


Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventures

by Mizuuma



Category: Original Work, The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor - Heesung Nam
Genre: Alchemy, Asexual Character, Broke the game, Comedy, Cooking, Crossdressing, Crossplay, Gen, MMORPGs, Magical Adventure, Memes, NPCs - Freeform, Potions, Roleplay, Self-Insert, Singing, Stupid people doing stupid things, Thief Guild, VRMMORPG, Video Game Mechanics, Virtual Reality, abusing game mechanics, also I might try to eat a dragon, exploding rabbits, killing mobs for EXP, pop culture reference, the end goal is my quest for ramen, virtual animal abuse, virtual scarecrow abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-17 06:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 72,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13653126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizuuma/pseuds/Mizuuma
Summary: In which a weird cross-player tries as hard as she can to break the game.No knowledge of Moonlight Sculptor needed. This fic is just set in the world of the game Royal Road, game mechanics and stuff will be explained as they appear.Incredibly self indulgent mary-sue adventure inside a VRMMORPG setting





	1. Chapter 1

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventures**  
  
Please note that I do not own Legendary Moonlight Sculptor or Royal Road. This is a fanfiction for a reason. Also, this is a ridiculous playful romp through a magical world written just to amuse me, expect mary-sueish things, I don't know, but it's all in good fun.

This is written as a hobby and isn't a priority for me, most of my focus would be going into my other fic Illusion is Reality, so updates may be infrequent.  
  
You do not need to know anything about Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, I’m not using anything from the novels except the Game-world and System.  
  
As a note, since I tend to Cross-play as a guy in most games the pronoun within the game will be 'him' and IRL will be 'her'.  
  
**Chapter 1**  
  
\----  
  
**Connect to Royal Road**  
**Yes | No**  
  
The message flashed in front of a girl's eyes as she lay in her newly bought VR Capsule.  
  
"Fuck yes!" The capsule shook from the sheer amount of excitement lying within it.  
  
**Confirmation accepted**  
**Scanning…**  
  
**The scan on your iris and brainwaves have determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you wish to create a new account?**  
  
"Why else would I be here! Yes, YES, YES!"  
  
Outside the capsule, a younger girl looked over at the machine rocking back and forth and thumped on the lid.  
  
"Jiejie, you're going to break it."  
  
The rocking stopped. There was silence for a while before a screech emitted from the capsule resembling a vehicle being ripped apart by a sumo wrestler. Wearing brass knuckles.  
  
“MUIH-MUI YOU DISCONNECTED ME! WHHHHHHHHY?!?!"  
  
Well what did she expect when she bought the capsule second hand for cheap?  
  
"Don't you have work tomorrow? You should go to bed." The younger sister stated with a flat stare.  
  
"But I finally got enough to buy this damn thing!!!" The high pitched whining simply caused the girl outside the capsule to roll her eyes and go back to playing Animal Crossing.  
  
"Ahem, RECONNECT!"  
  
**Select the name of your Avatar**  
  
"Mizuuma."  
  
**Select your Gender from Male, Female, Neutral or Herm-**  
  
"Male."  
  
**Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine races which are Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Barbarian, Dark-Elf, Orc, Wood Elf, Grey Elf, High Elf, Shadow Elf, Night Elf, Halfling-**  
  
"Why. For the love of cheese are there so many damn elves?!"  
  
**Have you chosen Elf as your race?**  
  
"No! No no nonononono!"  
  
**Please select a Race**  
  
"Eh…erm…fine I guess I'll go with Human, pretty basic…though pointy ears might be cute…nah, don't wanna have to worry about racial issues…wait! Are there Kitty boys?!"  
  
**WereBeasts are locked at this time**  
**Cat Sidhe are locked at this time**  
**Huldrekat are locked at this time**  
**Certain events in game can change you into these races**  
  
"There are a lot of races that can have Cat traits huh? So I can be a Kitty boy later? Ooh! What about Dragonewt?!”  
  
**Dragonewts are locked at this time**  
  
“That's fine then, I'll just go with Human for now."  
  
**You may alter your appearance**  
  
An image appeared before the girl of her Avatar. As she had chosen to play as a Male the Avatar's appearance was of course a boy. But since Royal Road based the beginning Avatar's off the player's real appearance the 'boy' before her looked more like a dainty little girl.  
  
"Okay…first off, make it more masculine. And taller! Definitely taller! Like, a LOT taller."  
  
**Changes in progress**  
  
The Avatar's features shifted subtly and his body stretched upwards. After a few seconds it stopped changing.  
  
"What? That's it?! But he still looks like a girl and he's barely 5 feet tall!"  
  
**More drastic changes to height locked in order to prevent Player disorientation due to drastic perspective change. Will you pay $20 to allow for more changes?**  
  
"WHAT?! This is bullshit! I just paid like a thousand for this stupid capsule AND the frickin' subscription!"  
  
**Would you like to pay $20 to allow for more height changes?**  
  
"This is extortion! That's what it is! Can I make any other changes without having to pay?"  
  
**You may alter the skin, hair and eye colors, hair length and style as well as small feature details.**  
  
"So…if I wanted to…say…make his  &#$% bigger…"  
  
A small bulge appeared.  
  
"…Oh wow…that's…actually kinda creepy…why is that even an option?“  
  
She looked closely at her Avatar. Luckily the changes to his face earlier were enough to make him look less like her. She wanted to make sure that no one in the game would be able to recognize her in real life through her Avatar.  
  
“No glasses, make the hair shorter, kinda shoulder length here…and longer here…ooh bangs, gonna need bangs…get rid of my moles.”  
  
She adjusted small things here and there and ultimately succeeded in making her Avatar look less like a 12 year old girl. Unfortunately the key word here is 'Less' and not 'Not at all a like 12 year old girl'.  
  
"Frig…well there goes my plan to RP as the mysterious and handsome adventurer…who sneaks into people's houses to steal their cheese. I guess I can be a Trap instead.”  
  
The final result of her detailed editing resulted in a young man with androgynous features, straight black hair hanging shoulder length with bangs framing his face and a longer lock of hair braided on the left side. She chose purple as the eye color because she thought it went well with his hair.  
  
"Hm…still has my wide nose and forehead but at least I don’t think people will recognize me…the height is an issue but I guess there's no helping it…I'll still have to look up to talk to people…sigh."  
  
**Are you finished altering your appearance?**

  
"Sure Pablo, your name is Pablo now, by the way."  
  
**Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. As a Human your base stats will begin as-**  
  
"Skip. I've wasted enough time making that guy-" vague gesture towards where her Avatar stood. "-Look nothing like me."  
  
**Select a City and Kingdom you want to start.**  
  
"Somuren Liberty City. Britton Aliance"  
  
**Welcome to Royal Road**  
  
"Whatever Pablo."  
  
**Would you like to have a quick Tutorial on how to play Royal Road?**  
  
"Naw, I'll figure this out myself. Thanks though Pablo."  
  
And with that, Mizuuma's Royal Road adventures began.  
  
\---  
  
A bright light assaulted his eyes as he appeared in the city center. Blinking, he gradually adjusted enough to see the thousands of people walking around.  
  
"Selling Bronze swords!"  
"Looking to form a Party, need a tank-"  
"Join the Nibel Wolves, FFVII role play guild!"  
  
He stood and stretched. Seeing so many people around made Mizuuma a little uncomfortable so he wandered off the main road to find someplace quieter to get his bearings. In a small side street without much traffic Mizuuma took this chance to examine his body. Wiggling fingers and toes, jumping and twisting his arms and legs.  
  
"Well everything seems to be in working order…okay, [Stats]!"  
  
**Stats**  
Avatar- Mizuuma  
Alignment- Neutral  
Level- 1    Race- Human  
Class- None        Title- None  
Reputation/Fame- 0  
HP- 100        MP- 100  
Strength- 10        Agility (Dexterity)- 10  
Vitality (Stamina)- 10  
Wisdom- 10        Intelligence- 10  
Leadership- 0        Luck- 0  
Defense- 0        Offense- 0  
Resistance to Magic- None  
  
"I have no Offense?! Wait…do I need to equip something? Inventory!”  
  
**Inventory**  
Canteen of Water x1  
Rye bread x10  
  
"I have nothing to equip…sucks. Wow my voice is weird…this is gonna take some getting used to."  
  
Mizuuma sang to himself. Softly at first but picking up volume as he got more comfortable with his new voice. It was a little lower than his/her voice IRL.  
  
Clap. Clap. Clap.  
  
Mizuuma's eyes opened in shock. A small group of people had gathered around him in the alley and were clapping.  
  
"That was really nice, your voice is cute." An archer said kindly after seeing Mizuuma's embarrassment to be caught singing by strangers.  
  
"It was nice but you didn't really put real energy into it. You should sing more from your gut. Your voice is too weak." A guy helpfully added. He appeared to be a Blacksmith, judging from the hammer and gloves.  
  
"Are you a Bard?" The last member of the group, a girl who seemed to be a Swords-woman asked.  
  
"No, I just started the game actually, I was just trying to calm down and get used to being in the game world."  
  
"Oh a newbie. Is this your first time with a Virtual Reality game?"  
  
"Yeah. Do you have any tips?"  
  
The Blacksmith, who actually seemed to be the leader of the group, smiled and pointed off back to the main road.  
  
"There's a Training Hall that way, if you want to try attacking a scarecrow to get used to moving your body in the game that's a good place, I’ve also heard rumors that you can raise your Stats on them. Since you're a Newbie you won't be able to leave the city for 4 weeks and it's a good idea to get a job someplace so you can earn money while you wait for that time to go up."  
  
"You can also begin getting familiar with the layout of the city, maybe join a Guild and check out some of the easy quests, just talk to all the NPCs you meet, many of them have Quests you can complete for a bit of EXP and money." The Swords-woman added.  
  
"By the way, I'm Pineapple and these are WASD and Tacnayn." The Archer introduced himself, the Blacksmith and the Swords-woman.  
  
"I'm Mizuuma. Your name's Wasd?"  
  
"It's WASD like the movement controls. People call me Double.” The Blacksmith scratched his cheek as he averted his eyes. The swords-woman, Tacnayn, snorted in amusement and muttered something like "No creativity this man".  
  
"Frankly I'm wondering why you asked about HIS name and not the fact that I'm called Pineapple…" Pineapple (the Archer) rolled his eyes.  
  
"Pineapple is a perfectly valid name." Mizuuma said with a completely straight face. He held it for a few seconds before giggling. Pineapple looked properly offended before laughing as well.  
  
"Well I should go now, lots of stuff ta do." Mizuuma waved and trotted out of the alley, back to the street before the Party could stop him. He could hear one of them attempt a Friend request but was out of earshot before they could finish.  
  
So where to? The Training Hall actually sounded like a nice place. While wandering the streets trying to find it Mizuuma sang quietly under his breath to himself. Singing for an audience was nice but it always make him/her feel a little self-conscious unless he was doing karaoke at an Anime con.  
  
After finishing his 10th song a system message popped up.  
  
**New Skill: Singing**  
  
In Royal Road skills can be learned in several ways. They can be taught by a NPC, learned by preforming that action, rewarded from a Quest, using skill books or learned as part of a Class. A new patch to the game made it so that new Players can earn or create Skills a little easier during their first 4 weeks. This was put in because of the huge level gap between Newbies and older Players who’ve been in the game for a few years. The higher ups were afraid that the new Players would see the level gap and feel discouraged so they patched in the new feature. It wasn’t an unfair advantage since all it did was raise the chances of creating a new Skill and give a boost to Skill EXP gain within the first 4 weeks.  
  
Simply doing an action will not create the skill, it must be done either often enough or well enough to become a skill. Hence Mizuuma developed the Singing skill normally learned by Bards upon Class change or under the tutelage of a Bard Instructor.  
  
*** Singing (Beginner Lv.1 0%):**  
Enables you to buff self and allies by singing songs with intent in mind. Enables you to hinder foes by singing songs. If the song is interrupted or if the singer makes a mistake the buff or de-buff could reverse effects. Singing only part of the song will still result in buffs but will have a decrease in effectiveness.  
Mana consumption: 1 per second  
  
'So does any song work or are there set songs I need to learn?' Mizuuma wondered even as he ducked and weaved through the crowd of people, for once thanking his small size. The Training Hall stood before him, there were no doors, simply a large opening. People trickled in and out. From where he stood, Mizu could hear the thuds of objects hitting each other.  
  
Stepping inside the Training Hall revealed a large room not unlike a gymnasium but sectioned off into large cubicles each with it's own Training scarecrow. The Training Hall is an area for players to test out new battle skills or get used to handling weapons far from the danger of fighting in a wilderness full of mobs. The cubicles around each scarecrow made sure Players wouldn't accidentally hit each other. A Magician was casting Fireballs upon her scarecrow, a Warrior was dual wielding hand-axes on his. Mizuuma wandered off a bit to find someplace less noticeable to begin his training.  
  
The Training Hall has wooden swords that were free for players to use so long as they don't try to take them out of the building. Mizuuma picked up a sword and began whacking the scarecrow in his booth.  
  
"Urg! Gah! Yah!"  
  
Whack! Whack! Smack! Thud!  
  
Since Mizuuma has never used a sword in his/her life and has no combat experience aside from some playground brawls, the sword wasn't held properly and even slipped out from between his fingers and flew off to disappear over the edge of his cubicle. Since there was no scream of pain Mizuuma figured it didn't land on anyone…but he was gonna switch cubicles anyway.  
  
Since using a sword might be a bit…unsafe for the moment Mizuuma decided to just use his fists. It'd be more helpful to get used to moving in this new body anyway. Upon character creation Mizuuma had chosen to make her Avatar taller and male. This may not seem like much but men and women have different centers of gravity, add that to the extra inches in height and it actually effected Mizuuma's perception of distance and balance. He would need to move around a lot to get used to it.  
  
"Hah!" He punched the scarecrow as hard as he could before jumping back and bouncing on his heels. Duck! Weave! Punch again! Leap forward and kick! As the scarecrow was quite soft Mizuuma could punch it all day and not hurt his fists. Grinning madly he began to speed up, preforming a roundhouse kick followed by sharp jabs from both hands. Though Mizuuma had no combat experience, he HAD watched many martial arts movies. Though Shaolin Soccer probably wasn’t an accurate portrayal.  
  
Before long he found himself cackling madly as he pounded the scarecrow mercilessly with his fists. Some players were gathering around to stare in confused horror at what they thought was a little girl beating the stuffing out of a scarecrow.  
  
"What is she doing?"  
  
"Maybe she really hates scarecrows?"  
  
"That poor scarecrow."  
  
Even the NPC instructor was looking confused.  
  
+1 STR  
+1 AGI  
  
Since Mizuuma was jumping and weaving around as he fought the scarecrow he had a higher chance to increase his Agility. He paused in surprise, not knowing it would happen so easily. After checking to make sure that yes, his stats really DID just go up Mizuuma turned back to the scarecrow with an even wider grin on his face.  
  
Despite being an unfeeling object the scarecrow almost looked afraid.  
  
"AHHHHHH!"  
  
With screams and shrieks Mizuuma resumed the brutal beating of the scarecrow. He even gave it a particularly vicious kick to the groin area which had all the male players watching him wince and back away.  
  
**New Stat has been created: Killing Intent**  
A beast-like desire for violence and drive to kill the enemy gives you a boost in strength. You are prohibited from distributing bonus points to this stat. It can only be leveled up through player's actions such as viciously fighting monsters or holding great hostility towards an enemy.  
Critical hits deal slightly more damage  
Slight increase in base Offense  
Slight chance to Stun enemies in battle  
  
+1 STR  
  
After a few hours the physical and mental exertion was beginning to take it's toll. Mizuuma's fists slowed and he was panting for breath. Still he refused to stop, by this point it appeared he was actually trying to destroy the scarecrow and didn't want to give up until he succeeded. He had even tried clawing at the scarecrow with his nails.  
  
+1 VIT  
+1 Killing Intent  
  
"Hah…hah…" Mizuuma gasped for air as his arms and legs trembled. Just when he was going to stop and rest for a bit another message popped up.  
  
**New Skill: Bare-hand Fighting**  
  
*** Bare-hand Fighting (Lv.1 0%):**  
Passive effect: Enables you to deal damage when not equipped with a weapon. Higher levels deal more damage. Equipping Gloves as armor will result in raising both Defense and Offense.  
Active effect: Raises the speed and power of your hits. Higher levels deal more damage.  
Mana Consumption: 20 per Second  
  
"Sweet! I should test this out. Bare-hand Fighting!"  
  
Mizuuma felt a surge of energy and punched the Scarecrow as fast as he could, he felt his Mana rapidly draining and the extra energy that filled his body began to run out. In a few seconds he was collapsed on the floor panting heavily and couldn't move.  
  
**Bare-hand Fighting (Beginner Lv.1 5%)**  
  
'At least I raised my skill somewhat…' He mused even as he focused on breathing and getting his limbs to move. His arms felt like they were being weighed down by giant cheese wheels. He couldn't even twitched his fingers.  
  
+1 VIT  
  
It was only then that Mizuuma noticed all the players crowded around him, most of them were leaving since the show seemed to be over. The NPC instructor bent down to lift Mizuuma up and prop him against the Scarecrow. He even had a cup of water which he put up to the exhausted boy's mouth.  
  
"T-thanks." Mizuuma mumbled before drinking the water. It was cool and made the boy sigh in pleasure.  
  
"I've never seen someone try so hard to destroy the scarecrow. Why?" The NPC instructor asked.  
  
"I liked hitting it." Mizuuma replied simply as he slowly managed to move his body to sit up more comfortably.  
  
Normally, warriors who don't bother with a sword are looked down on by the instructor but Mizuuma's violent fest upon the scarecrow gained him the instructor's respect.  
  
+1 Charisma  
**Closeness with the Soumuren Liberty City Instructor (Ulfric Dome) increased**  
  
"Young one, would you like to learn how to use a sword in combat?"  
  
**Class Change!**  
You can convert to the Swordsman class. If you accept it you can learn sword techniques and skills.  
Do you want to convert to Swordsman?  
  
"Thank you but I'm sorry. I have to decline. I have nothing against swords but I don't think I'll be able wield one." Mizuuma said politely.  
  
"Ah? Why is this so?" The Instructor looked upset.  
  
“Most swords are too big for me.“ Mizuuma muttered as he thought about that practice sword he'd flung off into the unknown.  
  
"Alright. But if you ever wish to learn, know that I am here." The instructor looked confused but smiled before walking off.  
  
Mizuuma slowly stood up and stretched his muscles. He glanced at the players milling around him and growled. "What are you all lookin' at?!"  
  
His Killing Intent wasn't very strong yet but it was enough to make them feel uncomfortable, or maybe that was natural? The short cross-player did have a way with making people uncomfortable, even IRL. Mizuuma grumbled and stomped out of the Training Hall to get away from the stares. He stopped right before the entrance to glare back at 'his' scarecrow. The look in his eyes promised 'I shall be back'. The scarecrow seemed to shiver.  
  
After getting back out to the streets Mizuuma wondered where he should head now. He wanted to test out and level up his new skills but being unable to leave the city the only way to do so was in the Training Hall. Nosy people watching him train was annoying so he wouldn't be able to go back to the Hall for a while.  
  
'I could go check out the shops…find a place to work or something…'  
  
The problem was finding his way. With his small height and the mass of people all around him it was impossible to see the street signs. Looking up he mused at the buildings. Many of them were built from bricks, stone and wood. There were plenty of arches and balconies twisting all around above their heads.  
  
'I could climb up there to get a better look around.'  
  
His mind made up Mizuuma went into the nearest alleyway and began searching for handholds to begin his climb. Because of his small size and weight it was easier to lift himself up and stay balanced as he climbed the wall. Even small notches where the bricks stuck out unevenly were enough for him to grip.  
  
Even though he wasn't heavy and it was easy to climb up the wall, the physical exertion Mizuuma went through earlier meant he was still a little tired. As he hung onto the side of the wall 7 feet off the ground Mizuuma remembered his Singing skill that could give Buffs.  
  
Perhaps he could buff his Vitality?  
  
For something like Vitality an energetic song would be best correct? This in mind, he started singing Bad Apple, a fanmade Touhou song she really liked IRL. Nothing happened and he sang the song again and again from the beginning, he even sang it in both Japanese and English to see if it made any difference. Finally a system menu popped up.  
  
**Singing (Beginner Lv.1 3%)**  
  
**Finishing a song has buffed your stats. Effects will last 10 minutes.**  
VIT +2%    AGI +2%  
  
Feeling more energy in his limbs Mizuuma huffed and pulled himself up a few more feet onto the roof of the building. For a while he simply looked out at the city before him. The view was actually pretty nice from up here. After admiring the city he crept across the roof to look down and figure out where he was.  
  
Across the street was an armor store. A potions shop was down that way. A bunch of unmarked buildings…a restaurant…he'd need to move to a different roof to see more.  
  
Looking to the next building he decided to do a running jump onto the other roof. Backing up a bit Mizuuma took a deep breath and ran towards the edge of the roof. Leaping off with all his strength he managed a few feet before plummeting as gravity dug it's chains into him.  
  
A split second of panic filled him before he reoriented himself in preparation for a landing. He struck the ground hard and heard his ankles crack, followed by his wrist from where he had placed one hand to catch himself.  
  
-50 HP  
  
"AUUUUGH! FRICKIN' FRICKER FRACKER FRICK!!!"  
  
He rolled onto the ground and tried to blink away the tears as pain throbbed through his arm and legs. His HP had gone down almost to the red zone and it was pure luck he was even alive. At level 1 the 15 foot fall he had just dealt a lot of damage.  
  
"Oh my god! Are you okay?!"  
  
Past the tears clouding his vision Mizuuma looked up to see a Fairy staring at him in horror and worry. Mizuuma identified her as a Fairy from her pale blue skin and transparent wings that reflected rainbow colors since she didn't look much like a Fairy otherwise.  
  
Fairies were a small, dainty species with delicately pointed ears and insect wings. This girl was quite tall and…big boned. Fairies usually looked so delicate that it seemed as if the slightest hit would beak them. This girl had a solid build, she looked as if she could body slam a wolf into submission.  
  
"I…I kinda fell off the roof…" Mizuuma winced.  
  
"What were you thinking?! No one climbs up there!" The Fairy angrily scolded him. "Blessing!" The healing spell whirled around Mizuuma, healing his wounds. The boy got up and rotated his ankles to find they felt fine.  
  
"Thanks!" He bounced happily and smiled brightly.  
  
"Don't go climbing the walls stupid! What if you cracked your skull open?!" The Fairy scolded him as if he were a child.  
  
"But I can't see anything from down here~" Mizuuma whined.  
  
"Well that's your fault for being short."  
  
"Excuuuuuse me?!"  
  
The Fairy raised an eyebrow but didn't stop her uncompromising stare.  
  
"Well whatever. I'm gonna go climb back up and find the marketplace." Mizuuma turned and began scaling the building again.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" The Fairy attempted to grab him but the much smaller player scrambled up and out of her reach. He was about to taunt her but she snapped her wings open and flittered up to his level easily.  
  
"Shoot." Mizuuma summoned all his strength and flung himself straight up to grab the edge of the roof and swing himself onto it. Glancing back he saw the Fairy was still chasing him and took off running across the roof. The Buff from earlier was still in effect. The adrenaline helped Mizuuma's leap off the rooftop actually made it to the next one this time around. It was a bit closer too, so…  
  
Not bothering to stop since he had a nice momentum going he continued to run and leap off another roof. He could hear the buzzing of the Fairy girl's wings and just kept running. He climbed up and down arches without slowing his pace, he jumped off ledges and ducked under outcroppings. Her childhood of playing on the jungle gym was paying off in game.  
  
**New Skill: Acrobatics**  
  
***Acrobatics (Beginner Lv.1 0%):**  
Enables you to move about on narrow or treacherous surfaces. Softens landing from falls and jumps. Allows flipping, rolling and jumping to avoid obstacles and enemy attacks. Higher skills allows for greater movement.  
Passive Skill  
  
+1 AGI  
  
Not having time to check out this new skill Mizuuma could feel his buff running out and slipped around a windowpane as he tried to escape the Fairy. In the middle of another jump his buff finally ran out and for the 2nd time that day he plummeted towards the ground.  
  
CRACK  
  
"GAAAAH!!! OH GAAAD! WHHHY?!?!"  
  
Though the game only simulated a small level of pain, it still hurt.  
  
-50 HP  
  
The screaming attracted lots of attention this time around since he fell in the middle of the street as opposed to an alleyway. Players gathered to stare and the Fairy landed heavily next to the newbie.  
  
**Acrobatics (Beginner Lv.1 2%)**  
**Damage from fall lessened by 0.02%**  
  
  
"See? You shouldn't climb rooftops. You knew this would happen." The Fairy said as she shook her head in disappointment.  
  
"Jush shut up an' heal me alweady." Mizuuma slurred.  
  
"No. I'm gonna leave you like this for a while until you understand that you shouldn't do that anymore."  
  
"@#$% you." Mizuuma mumbled.  
  
The crowd had dispersed by this point. Mizuuma laid on the ground and waited for his HP to regenerate naturally. In Royal Road, Health and Mana will heal over time. so long as you aren't dead or afflicted with a status ailment that prohibits regeneration you can heal without resorting to potions or magic.  
  
Once his HP had healed and his energy replenished itself Mizuuma glanced at the Fairy. She was sitting down nearby and reading a book. A thought struck him and he quickly hid his grin. Seeing that the Fairy wasn't looking at him Mizuuma slowly shifted his weight on the ground.  
  
3…2…1!  
  
He rolled and jumped to his feet, ran towards the nearest wall and threw himself up it. Behind him the Fairy's shriek of outrage only served to spur him on as he continued dashing across the rooftop. This game of Tag (?) was the most excitement he'd had all day. Much better than staying in one room hitting a scarecrow.  
  
He managed to hide from the Fairy a few times during the chase, his small form easily sipping into crevasses and clinging to the underside of roof-hangings as she flew past. His Acrobatics skill quickly gained experience and his Agility stat went up too.  
  
After finding a good hiding spot underneath a statue with wide, flowing robes, Mizuuma took the chance to catch his breath and check on his stats.  
  
Avatar- Mizuuma  
Alignment- Neutral  
Level- 1    Race- Human  
Class- None        Title- None  
Reputation/Fame- 0  
HP- 110        MP- 100  
Strength- 12  
Agility/Dexterity- 13  
Vitality/Stamina- 14  
Wisdom- 10  
Intelligence- 10  
Leadership- 0  
Luck- 0  
Defense- 0        Offense- 5  
Resistance to Magic- None  
Killing Intent- 1    Charisma- 1  
  
It wasn't very impressive but for someone who was still level 1 it wasn't bad. Mizuuma mused about other ways he could raise his stats before leveling. A system announcement earlier told him his Acrobatics skill leveled up so he checked on that too.  
  
**Acrobatics (Beginner Lv.2 30%)**  
Jump distance increased slightly, balance has increased slightly  
Your body has become more flexible, your grip is slightly better  
Fall Damage reduced by 0.04%  
  
Peeking cautiously out of his hiding spot Mizuuma spotted the tell-tale rainbow light of the Fairy's wings and snuck back in. He enjoyed this Hide-and-Seek/Tag game and wasn't willing to lose.  
  
There should be a song buff to hide his presence right?  
  
He thought of the songs he knew and eventually settle for Kagome Kagome. The short children's song didn't work the way he wanted though.  
  
**Resistance to Black Magic temporarily raised by 2%**  
  
What the heck? Now curious as to what songs gave what Buffs Mizuuma sat back and sang a couple more songs quietly to himself. The end result was his Singing skill reaching Beginner level 4 and he now had a mental 'songlist' he could select from whenever he activated his Singing skill.  
  
Bad Apple: +VIT +AGI  
Kagome Kagome: +Black Magic Resistance  
Let It Go: +Water/Ice Magic damage  
Toeto: +Luck  
Colors of the Wind: +Earth Resistance +Earth Magic Damage  
Tsumugi Uta: +WIS  
Hikari no Senritsu: +Mana Regeneration +Health Regeneration  
  
There was also a Sub-Skill for Singing called Lyrics which worked just as you'd expect. It created a semi-transparent screen that showed the lyrics to the songs. Apparently he could add more songs and lyrics to his 'library' by learning them from Bards or singing them himself. It was quite impressive that the system was able to pull forth the lyrics to the songs he sang based the words he used when singing them, which was evident in some of the lyrics being wrong. He often forgot the lyrics and would "la la la" the unknown parts or replace them with random words.  
  
Although singing songs you knew still counted to give buffs, they were't as effective as some of the 'real' songs that you can learn in the game from NPCs or quests. On the other hand, if a player were to invent their own songs it'd give a massive buff effect. Though singing a song from IRL didn't count as making up a song despite that song not existing in Royal Road for some reason.  
  
"Found you!"  
  
Mizuuma startled so badly that he slipped and fell off the roof once again. While his Acrobatics skill lessened the impact, it still hurt like hell and that cracking sound was probably more broken bones.  
  
-40 HP  
  
**The proficiency of Acrobatics rise by 1%**  
**Acrobatics current skill: Beginner Lv.2 31%**  
  
'I'm gonna need to learn some kind of awareness of my surroundings skill if people are gonna keep sneaking up on me...'  
  
"Okay, I admit, this last fall was my fault. Blessing."  
  
The healing light swirled around him and Mizuuma sat up to look up at the Fairy.  
  
"It's fine. Running away from you was actually kinda fun. I'm Mizuuma, what's your name?"  
  
"Narcissa. You're crazy by the way, did you know that?"  
  
"Life wouldn't be fun otherwise. Hey, wanna be Friends? Then you can be there to try and stop me from doing crazy things."  
  
"I feel this would be more trouble than it's worth…fine."  
  
Narcissa has been added to your Friend list  
  
"I'm sure I'm gonna regret this sometime in the future…" Narcissa mumbled.  
  
Mizuuma cackled wickedly. Immediately abusing his newfound Friend status he forced- no, he nicely asked his new friend to buy him some food since all that exercise had depleted his Hunger and he really didn't want to starve to death.  
  
After a quick meal at a restaurant, the cross-player realized it was getting late IRL and bid his farewells before logging out. She was already looking forward to playing some more tomorrow.  
  
**End Chapter 1**  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventures**  
**Chapter 2**  
  
\---  
  
Mizuuma logged in the next day after getting off work. A friend IRL wanted to meet up in game to hang out but Mizuuma turned them down. She wasn't sure how much fun that'd be for them since she was planning to beat up a scarecrow all day. She wanted to level up her avatar's Bare-Hand Fighting skill and raise some stats.  
  
Spawning in a side street he logged out in, Mizuuma looked around to see if he could figure out where he was. The chase across the rooftops made it hard to remember what direction anything was.  
  
There's a few residential houses that way…the market place should be…there?  
  
Getting frustrated he just climbed the buildings once more. From up there he could move easily without having to push through the crowds and get trampled on. Most players didn't bother to look up so not many people saw him scampering on the rooftops.  
  
So focused was he on looking at street signs he missed the loose roof tile he was heading towards. It broke away under his foot and sent him hurtling towards the ground once more.  
  
**Acrobatics skill has risen to Beginner Lv.3**  
Fall damage reduced by 0.06%  
Evasion and Jumping have increased slightly  
  
"@#$% you too Pablo…" Mizuuma groaned. It wasn't as high of a fall this time (only about 1 story) so he only lost 20 HP and didn't break any bones.  
  
Feeling a cold chill Mizuuma looked down and saw that his tunic had caught on something on the way down and was ripped. Cursing he checked the item.  
  
**Cotton Tunic**  
Durability 1/4  
Defense 0  
A basic tunic with no added benefits.  
Requirements- None  
  
Every player begins Royal Road with nothing but a simple Cotton Tunic, Pants, undergarments and shoes. They won't even count as equipment so much as modesty.  
  
"Crap…I need a new shirt…"  
  
Pulling the remains of his tunic close Mizuuma set off to find a Tailor shop. Passerby stared at him as he went. A few questioned his state of undress to which he simply glared. His Killing Intent even raised by 1. After asking for directions he finally made his way to a small shop selling clothes and fabric.  
  
"Hello? I'm in need of a new shirt…"  
  
"Oh there are many clothes to chose from heee-ahAHHHH! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CLOTHES?!" The store keeper, a tall girl with reddish brown hair shrieked in horror, her finger trembling even as she pointed at Mizuuma's torn up tunic.  
  
"I fell off the roof." Mizuuma shrugged.  
  
"You cannot possibly go around like this! You need new clothes immediately!"  
  
She grabbed Mizuuma and pushed him into a side room filled with clothes of all shapes, styles and colors. Forcing him to stand on a pedestal in the middle of the room she ran off to flip through the many hangers around the room.  
  
"To have your clothing THAT damaged! It's indecent! You're not even wearing a bra! Well I suppose you're too young to need one, but proper under garments are a MUST!"  
  
"Erm, excuse me, I don't need a bra…I'm a guy."  
  
The Tailor screeched to a halt while holding a little dress with frills and bows covering it.  
  
"A…a boy…you?"  
  
Mizuuma nodded. The Tailor looked as if she was reevaluating something in her head. Then she rushed over and tore the rest of Mizuuma's shirt off.  
  
"Eeep!"  
  
The Tailor stared at his flat chest. It was soft looking and barely had any muscle on it. If it weren't for the shape of his torso no one would even try to believe that it belonged to a boy.  
  
"C-can you stop that?" Mizuuma folded his arms to cover himself.  
  
"Hm…small…but nicely proportioned…" The Tailor circled him while pulling out a tape measure.  
  
"Erm…can I just get a new shirt?"  
  
"Seeing as you're still in newbie equipment I'm guessing you won't even have enough money for anything in this store."  
  
"….."  
  
The Tailor smirked as she measured between Mizuuma's shoulders. By this point he'd given up struggling and was standing still to make it easier for her.  
  
"I propose a deal…" the Tailor swept away to pull out some fabric.  
  
"I've been wanting to make Lolita style clothing for a while. I haven't been able to find a good model for my designs though. Sure I could make adult sized dresses but I'd prefer someone smaller and more dainty…”  
  
Most people who play Royal Road are teenagers and adults. The subscription notwithstanding, the capsule was expensive. As such most young children didn't have the game. Those who did have the game tended to make their Avatars much older. The Tailor had searched for a cute little girl to be her model but hadn't found anyone who matched her ideal.  
  
"You might be a boy but you're just the right size and shape. If you agree to be my model, I'll make you some new clothes and even teach you the Tailoring skill."  
  
"Can Player's even teach skills?" Mizuuma had long since realized this person wasn't an NPC, they wouldn't know what Lolita was seeing as the game took place in a fantasy setting.  
  
"Pfh, do you agree or not?"  
  
"Sure, I already know how to sew IRL though. But why would you do so much for me just to model your designs?"  
  
"You agree? Huh, most guys wouldn't say yes, skills and free equipment or no. And it's no big deal for me. I'm planning to just use you as free labor around my shop anyway."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Oopsie~ I guess I forgot to mention that part~"  
  
Mizuuma groaned but decided it wasn't all that bad. He could just leave if he really wanted to. A secret part of him was actually giddy at the prospect of wearing adorable Lolita clothes. If he couldn't role-play as a handsome man then he could go for a Trap instead. The trolling opportunities were endless.  
  
"So, my name's Satellite." The Tailor stuck out her hand.  
  
"I'm Mizuuma." He took her hand and shook it.  
  
\---  
  
They worked out a schedule. Mizuuma would come by for several hours whenever he could to wear a few of Satellite's designs. He'd then sew a few things for the remaining time. Sometimes he helped Satellite with her designs, the two discussing what sort of fabric to use or the location of bows. A few times Mizuuma even drew up his own designs.  
  
In this way he learned the Tailoring skill and Drawing skill.  
  
The rest of his day would be spent beating up the scarecrow, running around the rooftops with Narcissa before having lunch with her and sewing stuffed animals with leftover fabric from Satellite's shop. The stuffed animals were something he made IRL and he figured selling them inside the game might be easier than selling them IRL. Satellite was kind enough to let Mizuuma have a few needles and two spools of thread after he'd shown his interest in crafting stuffed animals. Her only catch being that he would make custom stuffed animals for her. To his surprise, after completing 4 dolls he got a system notice.  
  
**New Stat has been created: Art**  
A gift in comprehending and practicing beauty. Art renders meals and products elegant in an aesthetic and practical sense. Improves when you see, hear, smell, taste or touch beautiful things, or create artworks.  
  
Mizuuma wasn't sure what the Art stat was even for but didn't think it mattered. He also wondered why the system thought making stuffed animals was considered Art, but ah well.  
  
"Selling stuffed animals! Rabbits! Turtles! Kitties!"  
  
He set up shop in the town square with his finished dolls. Users passing by would stop and check them out. Many female players would squeal and call his dolls 'cute'. There were only 3 different animals but they were all different colors. Red cat, black cat, blue turtle with a white shell, green turtle with a blue shell and so on.  
  
**Rabbit Doll:**  
Durability 10/10  
A cute stuffed rabbit made by a novice doll maker. The design and stitches are simple but have a charming quality about them. Holding it makes one feel comforted.  
+2% Health regeneration speed when held.  
  
**Turtle Doll:**  
Durability 10/10  
A cute stuffed turtle made by a novice doll maker. The shell has stitching resembling the design of a turtle shell. Holding it makes one feel comforted.  
+2% Mana regeneration speed when held.  
  
**Kitty Doll:**  
Durability 10/10  
A cute stuffed cat made by a novice doll maker. The limbs are floppy in an endearing manner. Holding it makes one feel comforted.  
+2% Health regeneration speed when held.  
  
"How much for this?" A Mage pointed at a turtle.  
  
"1 silver." Mizuuma replied.  
  
"Wow that's cheap, you should sell them for more. They're worth at least 5 silvers. Not that I'm complaining…"  
  
"I'll keep that in mind for my future sales." Mizuuma gave the Mage a mischievous look. She giggled before handing over 3 silvers and walking off to show off the turtle to her friends.  
  
After the first sale he'd raised his price to 3 silvers. It seemed appropriate at the time though part of him wondered if he really should have charged more. He made 24 silvers in the end, not bad. Especially considering he got most of his supplies for free. There were surprisingly not a lot of people passing by, was there an event somewhere?  
  
His stomach grumbled and Mizuuma ate the last of his Rye bread, lamenting the fact that Narcissa already logged out earlier . Checking his inventory revealed he really had no more food.  
  
**Inventory**  
24 silver  
Canteen of Water  
5 silver Needles  
1 Spool of white thread  
1 Spool of black thread  
A bundle of scrap fabric  
2 Rabbit dolls  
1 Turtle doll  
1 Cat doll  
  
'Need to find food…'  
  
Climbing another building, he ran off to where he'd heard of a cheap restaurant. By this point all his traveling within the city was done via rooftops. The place was a simple diner with meals like mashed potatoes and roast chicken.  
  
"Do you have Ramen here?" Mizuuma asked a waiter.  
  
"What is this Raw-men you speak of?." The waiter looked confused.  
  
"WHAT?! No ramen?! B-but…" Mizuuma was horrified. A world without ramen…was a world he couldn't understand.  
  
In the end he ate some Shepard's pie but continued to despair over the lack of ramen in Royal Road. There must be a way to create ramen. Yes, if he could learn the Cooking skill, surely he could make his own ramen?  
  
\----  
  
Narcissa asked Mizuuma what Class he was going for, since his skills were all over the place.  
  
"You've got…Singing, Barehand Fighting, Acrobatics, Tailoring and Drawing…seriously just pick a build and go with it. Are you gonna be a Fighter or Craftsman? Or a Bard?"  
  
"Actually I learned Repair just the other day when I was helping Satellite mend some clothes."  
  
"Oh great. Now you're even more messed up…"  
  
"Hey, I do what I want! I plan to get the Cooking skill too..."  
  
"Seriously what kind of character are you going for?!"  
  
"I doubt it matters, I'm just playing for fun anyway. I've actually made a decent amount of money from just making dolls and selling them. Maybe I'll just be a toymaker?"  
  
"But how're you going to fight mobs or survive outside a town?"  
  
"I can punch things! That's something!"  
  
Narcissa groaned and slumped over the table. The two were seated outside a cafe, taking break from their daily game of tag-on-the-rooftops. Narcissa, aside from being of the Fairy race, had the Class of Druid. The Druid Class was nature oriented with plant and earth based magics, healing and animal summoning. Higher tiered Druids can even shape shift into animals. As a Fairy she received a boost in elemental and nature affinity which gave her spells a much stronger kick than if she'd been a Human. While her magic power was great, the fact that she was a Fairy meant she had very low defense against physical or melee attacks. Her Strength was also quite low so she relied on summoning strong animals or turning into a powerful beast form for physical fights. With a lot of work even a Fairy race could raise their physical abilities but Narcissa decided to simply focus on magic. Spreading herself out into too many different things would just make it difficult to create a strong character. As someone who worked to focus on a specialty Narcissa couldn't understand Mizuuma who didn't seem to focus on anything in particular.  
  
"You're never gonna be a strong player without a focus Miz."  
  
"I don't particularly care 'bout that. So long as I'm having fun it shouldn't matter if I'm strong or not."  
  
"You're a weird kid."  
  
"I am almost certain I'm older than you." Mizuuma smirked.  
  
"I'm 20. You're like what? 14?”  
  
"Try 27.”  
  
Narcissa actually jumped from her chair at that. It resulted in the table being pushed back and slamming right into Mizuuma's chest, taking off 10 HP and causing him to double over in pain.  
  
"Holy sh*t really?! You look like you're barely a teenager!"  
  
"@#$%!" Mizuuma responded, clutching his chest.  
  
"[Blessing]. You know I’ve leveled up my Healing skill so much since I've started hanging out with you."  
  
"Glad to know my penchant for getting injured is good for something."  
  
"Well you've only got one more week before you can leave the city. Best get used to pain before you have to face a monster in battle. Are you still trying to kill that scarecrow?"  
  
"That scarecrow must die…"  
  
"You're weird."  
  
\----  
  
In Mizuuma's final week of being trapped in the city he worked to improve his skills and stats from attacking the scarecrow, leaping off rooftops, fixing clothes with Satellite and drawing a map of the city just so he wouldn't get lost which resulted in a sub-skill of Drawing called Mapping…  
  
**Mapping (Max Lv.)**  
Grants the ability to create maps. The higher the Drawing skill the more detailed the map will be. Completed maps can be sold at shops.  
  
Before a player choses a Class they cannot create more than 10 skills. Since Lyrics and Mapping are sub-skills they don't count towards the 10 skill cap. He thanked his experience with Etrian Odyssey to make his maps more accurate.  
  
Mizuuma's stats and skills were thus-  
  
**Stats**  
Avatar- Mizuuma  
Alignment- Neutral  
Level- 1    Race- Human  
Class- None        Title- None  
Fame- 20  
HP- 240        MP- 100  
Strength- 38        Agility/Dexterity- 49  
Vitality/Stamina- 32  
Wisdom- 10        Intelligence- 10  
Leadership- 0        Luck- 4  
Defense- 22        Offense- 28  
Resistance to Magic- None  
Killing Intent- 5    Charisma- 8  
Toughness/Endurance- 11    Art- 63  
  
**Skills**  
Singing (Beginner Lv.7 83%)  
    Lyrics (Max Lv.)  
Bare-hand Fighting (Beginner Lv.9 58%)  
Acrobatics (Beginner Lv.6 12%)  
Tailoring (Beginner Lv.9 36%)  
Drawing (Beginner Lv.2 70%)  
    Mapping (Max Lv.)  
Repair (Beginner Lv.3 73%)  
  
Wait, when did he gain Fame?! Even wracking his brain for a few minutes, he couldn’t remember that. And his Charisma was up too? When did that happen? Unknown to him, the NPC at the Training Hall had talked about him to some other NPCs. They were all rather interested in this strange Foreigner (The term NPCs used to refer to Players) who was trying so hard to kill an unkillable scarecrow. Did this Foreigner know about…that? Mizuuma sighed in frustration and decided to just ignore the strange boost in Stats.  
  
What’s most important right now is the Cooking skill. He went to Inns/Taverns and tried sneaking into the kitchens. He was caught several times but made up an excuse that he got lost. His small form and puppy dog eyes made NPCs believe his innocence (the higher Fame and Charisma helped greatly). Also he had started wearing the Lolita dresses Satellite made while walking out in public to advertise her store. He had fun playing a Trap by skipping merrily in adorable dresses. It helped when interacting with NPCs who assumed he was a sweet little girl.  
  
Tonight he was trying again. A busy Inn on a side street was his target this time. He unequipped the basic cloth clothing that he wore when training and equipped the latest dress Satellite and he had designed together.  
  
A Wa style dress, lavender in color with black as the highlight. The top part looked like a Kimono but below the Obi it became a frilled skirt. He wore black bloomers, a dark gray petticoat, socks and Geta styled shoes. In his hair he tied a purple ribbon on the lock of hair that was braided.  
  
He took a deep breath to calm himself and then let a soft smile appear on his face. Walking forward with his arms swinging and humming a song to himself he went into the Inn and headed towards the Tavern area.  
  
The inside was warmly lit by the fireplace. There was a bar and many small round tables arranged around the room. A staircase led up and there were three doors on the ground floor that he could see. One of them had to lead to the kitchen.  
  
A few players came over to ask about his clothes and he gave them the name and address of Satellite's Tailor shop. After a bit they went back to their own business and Mizuuma crept to check out the doors. Now sneaking around in such a flashy outfit was difficult so he ducked behind a table and switched back to his plain cloth clothes. He also took the purple ribbon and tied his hair into a high ponytail.  
  
If someone in a flashy outfit and a certain hair style is seen and then switches to wearing something very different there's a good chance they won't be recognized. Especially since the inn was so busy with people coming in and out there's no way he'd be noticed.  
  
Making it over to the door he opened it to peek inside. A bedroom. Wrong door. He went over to the next door, stopping at a table for a few minutes and faking a relaxed air. The 2nd door yielded the kitchen. Resisting the urge to pump his fist in victory Mizuuma crept in.  
  
He could see the chef now. His back was turned and he was chopping vegetables. Mizuuma found a table to hide under and watched the man work. It'd probably be much easier to learn Cooking if he simply asked the Chef to teach him but this amused him more. He watched the chef's cooking technique and made a note to try and emulate it later. Cooking on his own without a kitchen would be difficult. He'd have to buy all the supplies.  
  
Depending on what he wants to make he'd need different supplies. Most cooking would require building a fire. He heard of Heat Rocks that can be bought at Magic Item stores. They're essentially rocks that have a fire enchantment on them. If one had a pot they could put it on top to heat up and cook things. Heat Rocks were expensive though. Other things he'd need were a knife, cutting board, pots and pans, containers, seasonings, sauces and more.  
  
Though seeing as Mizuuma's ultimate goal for learning Cooking was to make Ramen all he'd need was the ingredients for making it, a large bowl, large cutting board with which to knead the dough and pull it into the strands, knife, a pot to boil water…what else…Mizuuma wracked his brain thinking.  
  
Oh right the flavoring! Well that would simply be different things each time. Wait, did the game even HAVE Soy sauce?  
  
So caught up in his musing Mizuuma didn't notice when the Chef noticed him.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" The Chef shouted, enraged.  
  
"Ah?! Oh I-I um…I…" Mizuuma's eyes were once more in that puppy dog look he's practiced so hard on.  
  
The Chef however wasn't falling for it. His face was a tight frown and he tapped his food impatiently.  
  
Seeing as he wouldn't be able to 'Cute' his way out of this Mizuuma sighed.  
  
"I wanted to learn the Cooking skill and thought if I spied on an great Chef I could learn it."  
  
It sounded stupid when he said it out loud but it was the truth and Mizuuma wasn't a very good liar. He could embellish stories and lie about silly things but getting caught off guard didn’t give him time to think.  
  
The Chef merely sighed. He scratched his cheek and stared down at Mizuuma who was still crouched under the table.  
  
"At least come out here first. What's your name foreigner?"  
  
Foreigner? So the chef is an NPC.  
  
"I'm Mizuuma, what's your name mister Chef?"  
  
"I am called Rodrich. Do you truly wish to learn the cooking arts young one?"  
  
**Class Change!**  
You can convert to the class Chef. If you accept it, you can learn skills for the class. All types of cooking techniques and recipes will be easier to learn and master.  
Do you want to convert to Chef?  
  
Score! Thank you Fame.  
  
"I'm very thankful for your offer but I'm still unsure what I wish to do in life. I really DO wish to learn Cooking but I don't know if I want to be a Chef."  
  
"Oh, that's unfortunate, you are still young though so I can understand why you are hesitant to commit to a path in life so quickly. Are you sure you do not wish to follow the path of a Chef?"  
  
**Please confirm your decision. You can convert to the Chef Class.**  
Do you want to convert to Chef?  
  
"I am sorry that I have to decline again. Although being a Chef sounds amazing I wish to see all there is before I settle on my true path."  
  
"As you are not a Chef you will be unable to reach Mastery in Cooking. Do you still wish to learn the skill?"  
  
"Yes sir." Making noodles probably won't require Master level skills, and anyway he's seen people throw noodles, it shouldn't be that hard to emulate…right?  
  
**You've acquired a new skill, Cooking.**  
Cooking (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
Can make meals out of ingredients that can give various benefits. Higher levels improves the taste and effects.  
Passive  
  
Mizuuma was to come by that Inn every night to learn Cooking from Rodrich for a few hours. He was also pushed into working as a Waitress (people still believed he was a girl, Mizuuma decided to stop correcting them) at the Inn. Serving food, cleaning the tables and greeting the customers. As Mizuuma used to work at a food service place IRL this wasn't difficult. Heck, compared to where she worked IRL the inn seemed easy, and paid much better. Satellite even made a dress for him to wear while on the job after he told her about it.  
  
The 4 weeks would be up tomorrow and Mizuuma couldn't wait to go outside the city walls. Of course he couldn't travel yet since his first day working at the Inn was also starting tomorrow. He didn't mind, there was lots to do around Somuren Liberty City and he wasn't even done mapping the entire place yet.  
  
Mizuuma wrote out a schedule for himself.  
  
Mornings- Head outside to hunt animals.  
Try to get meat and fur off the animals.  
Meat will be roasted, fur and hide will be sold to Satellite.  
Practice combat. Raise levels.  
Help Satellite in her shop. Advertise her newest designs.  
  
Afternoons- Train skills within the city.  
Beat up the scarecrow some more (see if it can actually be destroyed if you try hard enough)  
Jump and run around the rooftops/ Hang out with Narcissa.  
Practice hiding from Narcissa, maybe earn a skill for it.  
Map out more of the city. Singing as I go.  
  
Evenings- Working at the Inn.  
Greet customers, serve food, clean tables, sing to entertain customers.  
Cook with Rodrich.  
After my shift at the Inn is done, spend the night sneaking around the city.  
There should be a sneak skill, must learn.  
  
Looking at his schedule with a self-satisfied smirk Mizuuma logged off and went to bed. Tomorrow would be the start of another adventure.  
  


\---

**End chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you have a Stat like Killing Intent, you should probably use it more often. Intimidation check go!

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventures**  
  
**Chapter 3**  
  
\---  
  
The day began with Mizuuma logging in and rushing out of the city gates. He readied his fists and looked around for monsters and animals to fight. As the area around the outside of any major city has low level mobs all he saw were rabbits, raccoons and foxes.  
  
"Do I seriously have to punch a rabbit to death?" He frowned. The rabbits were cute.  
  
"…At least I might get food from them."  
  
The thought of delicious rabbit meat spurred him on. She hadn’t eaten rabbit since she was a teenager. A maniac gleam appeared in his eyes as his Killing Intent strengthened his body. He rushed towards the rabbit only to have the animal freak out and dash away in terror.  
  
"GET BACK HERE AND LET ME EAT YOU!!!"  
  
The rabbit was fast, but luckily for Mizuuma, his high Agility stat allowed him to keep up and finally catch the rabbit. He then punched it as hard as he could. Since he jacked up his Strength stat at the Training hall he hit it much harder than the average level 1 player would. His Barehand Fighting skill also raised his base Offense to 28, in other words, the rabbit never stood a chance.  
  
**Critical Hit!**  
  
The rabbit let out a dying scream as it faded to gray. Mizuuma immediately took out his scissors and tried to cut off a bit of fur but the rabbit vanished before he could do so. Nevertheless it dropped one rabbit hide. Groaning in frustration at the lack of meat, Mizuuma picked up the hide and proceeded to hunt more rabbits. His Tailoring skill may have been Intermediate but he didn't have any real experience with skinning an animal. It also would have worked better if he'd been equipped with a small knife. Scissors only counted as a low level weapon for the Tailor class and as Mizuuma was classless it didn’t offer any significant boosts to his stats. Also he didn't have the Handicraft skill yet which would have greatly increased his chances of getting more drops from a mob.  
  
Soon he grew 2 levels, reaching level 3, and put all 10 stat points into Agility. It was a strange stat. Agility was actually a combination of Dexterity and Speed. Raising it not only raised how fast he ran but also his aim, reaction speed and maneuverability. His Killing Intent stat also went up as a result of him snarling at the rabbits and viciously tearing them apart with his bare hands. Punching them was all well and good but sometimes he would miss when the rabbit jumped away so Mizuuma had taken to grabbing the rabbits by an ear or leg and simply tearing them apart limb from limb. The advantage of swords would be the longer reach when attacking. Since Mizuuma only used his own body his reach was quite short. Therefore, grabbing the rabbits and holding them down made it easier to hurt them.  
  
It raised his chances of getting meat dropped when he tore them apart. It also coated his fingers in blood and made his Killing Intent more effective.  
  
"Inventory!" He called out of habit, the interface can show up with merely a thought but vocal confirmation made it easier to visualize.  
  
**-Inventory-**  
2 Gold 60 Silver 36 Copper  
Canteen of Water  
5 silver Needles  
1 Spool of white thread  
1 Spool of black thread  
A bundle of scrap fabric  
1 pair of scissors  
2 Rabbit dolls  
1 Turtle doll  
1 Cat doll  
14 Rabbit pelt  
8 Rabbit meat  
  
Not bad, he took out the Cat doll and hugged it.  
  
**+2% Health Regeneration speed**  
  
Despite only fighting rabbits, Mizuuma managed to get hurt a few times when the rabbit tried to fight back. It didn't deal much damage but better safe than sorry. Besides, he needed to move on to hunting the raccoons now.  
  
As a note about his inventory, the 5 silver needles he got as a gift from Satellite. They were inside a small glass container with a cap, to prevent them from getting separated. The basic inventory every Player started with only had 20 slots for items. It was essentially a subspace to put items without needing a physical bag. To expand your inventory, a player would have to buy a physical backpack to carry around. They’ll also need to raise their Strength stat to allow them to carry more or heavier items. The basic sub-space inventory had very limited slots but didn’t take up any ’space’. There was also the [Beginner’s Item Pouch]. which was an item given to all Players upon signup that provided extra Inventory space. It was a little like a [Bag of Holding] with how much crap you could actually fit in there but the weight of all Items would still be felt by the Player.  
  
Everything carried has weight. The sub-space inventory, while not being physically carried, still had weight, though greatly reduced. The basic backpack has a slight reduce weight charm on it. Better backpacks can be bought or made to reduce the weight even more. Essentially the backpack itself can store anything so long as a player can carry it. When searching for an item the player simply 'opens' their inventory screen and finds what they want without having to root through their bag. Rooting through bags is possible but rather time consuming so most players only bother with the Item screen. For Players that want to hoard an ungodly amount of items, they would need several backpacks or even a wagon.  
  
As of this moment Mizuuma’s inventory took the form of a pouch on some rope tied around his waist. He was planning to buy a large satchel once he saved up enough money.  
  
After tying the Kitty doll to himself with a strip of fabric in order to keep it's effect active, Mizuuma went off to hunt raccoons. A few players nearby had been staring at him for a few minutes now. Probably because of his brutal murder of rabbits (“Did you SEE that?!” “She ripped them apart with her HANDS!”), none of them dared to approach him to ask about Party-ing.  
  
Most of them were using swords or bows. A few were beginner Mages. The Healers were Partied with offensive players since they couldn't fight very well on their own. There were a few other players who fought with their bare hands and legs but none tried simply ripping their opponents apart. A few thought about trying Mizuuma's approach but chickened out due to queasiness. Watching Mizuuma’s hands and arms covered in blood made most of them move further away from where he was hunting.  
  
Spotting a raccoon Mizuuma smirked and screeched loudly as he ran at it. It was larger than the rabbit and had sharp claws and teeth. Mizuuma's Killing Intent had a slight chance of causing the opponent to be paralyzed in fright and it gave him a split second to land an attack before the raccoon fought back.  
  
"OW!"  
  
His HP went down 5 points every time the raccoon landed a hit on him. Mizuuma tried to dodge as many hits as he could but his hands were scratched and bitten multiple times. Finally he tackled the raccoon to the ground and held it while it struggled. Since his hands and feet were now occupied in binding the animal's flailing limbs he had no way to attack. If he let go of anything to try and punch it the animal would be able to strike back so Mizuuma thought quickly about how to kill it.  
  
"Fuck it, hopefully this game isn't real enough to have germs…“  
  
With that in mind Mizuuma opened his mouth and bit down hard on the raccoon's neck.  
  
The animal screeched in pain and struggled but Mizuuma was able to hold it down as he increased the pressure and shook his head to try and tear at the flesh. The fur was filling his mouth and it tasted kinda disgusting but he refused to let go until finally the raccoon lost all it's HP and faded to gray.  
  
You gain a level  
Raccoon dropped 1 raccoon pelt  
  
"PFH-TAT!" Mizuuma spit and gagged at the taste of fur. Royal Road was more realistic than he thought. Then again, if good food and bad food tasted real then it would make sense everything else would have a taste.  
  
After putting the skill points into Agility and Vitality Mizuuma pondered the sense of taste in the game. Does everything have a taste? How'd the game designers program that? Would things that don't exist in the real world have taste too? Suddenly Mizuuma wanted to know if dragon meat would taste like chicken or something entirely new.  
  
It's a long way off before he'd be able to kill a dragon, much less eat one. And weren't Dragons special mobs in this game? With names and such? Were Dragon sacred? Would killing one to eat be considered a bad thing?  
  
Such were the things Mizuuma thought about.  
  
"Oh god…"  
  
Mizuuma turned to look at a player who spoke loudly enough that he heard them. They were a tall female with thick, muscular arms and huge boobs. Her hair was a dirty blond color hidden beneath a witch's hat.  
  
"Hello." Mizuuma bounced over and said happily. The woman seemed a little surprised and nervous.  
  
"Hi, my friend and I were watching you fight and I'd just like to say that last kill was kinda f**ked up." She finally said.  
  
The Witch's companion, a girl with dark skin and a large build nodded while wearing a look of horrified fascination.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a Werewolf and even I think that was messed up."  
  
Mizuuma simply shrugged and spat out some more fur.  
  
"I'm Circe." The Witch introduced herself.  
  
"And I'm Laxmi." The Self proclaimed Werewolf, who appeared to be an Archer class of all things, added.  
  
"I'm Mizuuma. How can you be an Archer if you're a Werewolf? I thought they were banned from using weapons?"  
  
"Well as you can see I'm in Human form right now. I got this-" She held up her hand to show a large ring with a moon shaped jewel in the center, "-and it lets me take human form. So long as it's equipped I'm essentially human."  
  
"Are you a Monk, Mizuuma?" Circe asked curiously.  
  
"I don't have a class yet. I only just got to leave the city today so I thought I'd try fighting a bit, maybe get some items or money and figure out what I wanna do from there."  
  
The blood on his hands was drying and it made his skin itch. Before he fully thought it through, Mizuuma already lifted a hand to his mouth and began licking the blood off. It tasted salty, probably as a result of his sweat from fighting.  
  
"Do you…want to wash your hands?" Circe asked hesitantly.  
  
"Naw, that's fine. I've got a few more hours to kill things before I need to head back into the city. It’d be easier to wash when I'm all done here."  
  
After chatting for a bit Mizuuma managed to get the two women to stop being apprehensive about him and the three decided to party for a little while. They had fun luring and killing foxes and even wolves. Circe and Laxmi were in their lower level 30s so it was pointless for them to be hunting level 5 foxes and level 10 wolves but they seemed to want to help Mizuuma because watching him fight was fascinating. In the same sense watching a nature documentary about carnivores ripping prey apart was.  
  
As the sun got higher in the sky and the temperature heated up Mizuuma thanked the two and left to return to the city. He didn't feel like hunting in the hot afternoon sunlight. They all traded Friend requests and bid their good byes.  
  
Fighting the wolves that were much higher leveled than him earned Mizuuma a great increase in stats and exp.  
  
"Stats."  
  
Avatar- Mizuuma  
Alignment- Neutral  
Level- 11    Race- Human  
Class- None        Title- None  
Fame- 20  
HP- 590        MP- 100  
Strength- 56  
Agility- 75+2  
Vitality- 55  
Wisdom- 10  
Intelligence- 10  
Leadership- 0  
Luck- 6  
Defense- 27+2        Offense- 34+2  
Resistance to Magic- None  
Killing Intent- 18    Charisma- 8  
Toughness- 21    Art- 63  
  
"Skills."  
  
Singing (Beginner Lv.9 83%)  
    Lyrics (Max Lv.)  
Bare-hand Fighting (Intermediate Lv.3 58%)  
Bare-Hand Fighting has reached intermediate, physical damage when not wielding a weapon has gone up, can begin creating Combat Skills-  
Combat Skills pending creation- 1  
Acrobatics (Intermediate Lv.1 4%)  
Acrobatics has reached Intermediate, fall damage decrease. Allows for higher jumping height and distance. Increase balance, climbing ability and grip.  
Learned sub-skill Dodge  
Dodge (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
Raises chance to reduce damage taken or avoiding damage all together. Passive skill.  
Tailoring (Intermediate Lv.2 13%)  
Tailoring has reached Intermediate, can now create clothing from cloth and leather but cannot forge metal armor without the Blacksmith skill.  
Drawing (Beginner Lv.7 40%)  
    Mapping (Max Lv.)  
Repair (Intermediate Lv.1 73%)  
Repair has reached Intermediate, can now repair cloth and leather armor and weapons.  
Cooking (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
  
He nodded in satisfaction. All was going well. He didn't create combat skills yet since while one's class was undecided they could only learn 10 skills. He would wait until after he decided on a class to create special combat skills. Each time the message popped up reminding him about creating a unique skill he would ask to do it later.  
  
Bare-Hand Fighting is a skill that allows one to fight without weapons. Since this is a difficult path to take, the game allows players to 'create' their own combat skills to give them certain attacks they can use in battle every few levels after reaching Intermediate level. The AI of Royal Road was advanced enough to create original skills for Players so that everyone's play experience was unique to themselves. They weren't randomly generated either, the Player themselves creates the attack.  
  
For now he had to return to Satellite's store and sell some of the animal hides he collected. She was happy about the furs, as a Tailor she never bothered to actually go out and fight mobs herself and relied on other players bringing them to her. Mizuuma sold her 14 rabbit pelts, 1 raccoon pelt, 9 fox pelts and 3 wolf pelts. It only got him 5 Silvers since Mizuuma didn't know how to clean and tan the fur. Up until now he only used fabric that Satellite had already treated and made from animal skins, wool and cotton. He asked if she could teach him how to make fabric but Satellite said it was expensive and if Mizuuma really wanted to learn he would have to go to an NPC for that.  
  
The animal meat was kept for cooking purposes. Satellite had a fireplace in her shop so Mizuuma attempted to roast the meat on a stick, it raised his Cooking skill slightly but not by much. Satellite didn't appreciate it and chased him out. He munched on the mostly cooked rabbit meat (+1 Satisfaction) and tried to remember what he had planned to do in the afternoon. Since he had a long time before sundown and his 1st shift working in the Inn, Mizuuma went to the Training Hall to try once more to kill the scarecrow.  
  
Instead of just punching and kicking it, he tried to tear it apart like he did the rabbits. When that didn't work he tried to bite it but only ended up spitting out straw. Frustrated at his lack of progress in killing the scarecrow even after a month he kicked it repeatedly in the crotch. His Killing Intent went up by 2 after a while of this. With a sigh, Mizuuma finally left the Training Hall.  
  
Today he would climb the Church of Freya. It was one of the biggest landmarks in this city seeing as the main branch was hosted here. The church was huge, tall and imposing with beautifully decorated walls and windows. The ledges even had flowers carved into them. It looked amazing to climb but because it was so high up Mizuuma had held off on scaling it until his level went up more since a fall from that height would surely kill him.  
  
There were no dark alleyways he could sneak into to begin his climb away from prying eyes since the Church was in the middle of a large courtyard. There were fountains, priest and priestesses everywhere, players were also lined up around the entrance waiting to get a Blessing or Buff from one of the clergy.  
  
He tried to find a more secluded place to begin his climb. Seeing as this place was a Church there was every chance that he would get in a lot of trouble for climbing it. Stepping behind a rather large pillar he looked for any foot holds.  
  
He found some grooves to cling onto and began his slow climb. It was hard work since the pillar was smooth but with his small size and weight he was able to lift himself off the ground and slowly scale the pillar.  
  
“What are you doing?!”  
  
The shout startled Mizuuma enough that he yelped and lost his grip on the pillar, half falling, half sliding down and hitting the ground with a ‘thump’.  
  
-25 HP  
  
Mizuuma looked up from where he was sprawled on the ground to see a Priestess dressed in the uniform for the Church of Freya. Her eyebrows were furrowed and though she wasn’t frowning she didn’t look happy either.  
  
“Erm…hi?”  
  
“What were you doing child? You could have been hurt!” The Priestess scolded him.  
  
“I…wanted to climb on top.” He said honestly.  
  
“Why ever would you do that for?”  
  
“Well, the Church is pretty tall and it’s near the center of the city. I thought it’d be cool.”  
  
“Well I cannot let you do such a thing. Climbing the church isn’t allowed.”  
  
Oh no. She was starting to look angry. Quick, Mizuuma racked his brain to find something to say to push the conversation back to something less likely to get him in trouble with the Church.  
  
“But if you can’t climb the church, how do you guys clean the sculptures?” Mizuuma asked as he pointed at the statues of the Goddess Freya.  
  
“Ah, we ask some Water Mages to clean them.”  
  
“Oooh. I hadn’t even thought of that.” By this point Mizuuma had gotten up and was slowly walking away while pretending to admire the statues of the Goddess.  
  
“Get back here, don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”  
  
Well crap-baskets.  
  
“Since you’re just a child I’ll let you off easy this time. But do not do such a thing again. The Church is a sacred place. It is not for playing on. If I or any of the other Priest and Priestesses catch you again you will be Fined.”  
  
**Warning- You have displeased the Church of Freya. As it is your first infraction there is no penalty but the next infraction will cause a fine of 10 Gold and -5 in Fame.**  
  
“Yes Ma’am…”  
  
The Priestess (probably an NPC now that Mizuuma thought about it) nodded and looked at Mizu for a bit. He squirmed under her gaze.  
  
“I see you have fallen off high places quite often.” She stated with a frown.  
  
_’The game keeps track of stuff like that?!’_  
  
“It won’t do to be so reckless. You are a child so I understand how you might want to play on dangerous places but it would be terrible for you to get seriously hurt one of these days…”  
  
The Priestess looked thoughtful. Mizu was curious as to where this dialogue tree would go.  
  
“If I get hurt because I fall then I only need to stop falling.” The cross-player said matter of factly.  
  
“Sigh. I guess I cannot talk you out of your reckless ways. At the least, this should help you in not killing yourself in some horrid accident…”  
  
**Priestess Maribell of the Church of Freya wishes to teach you the Healing Skill Blessing**  
**Do you accept?**  
**Yes | No**  
  
_‘Holy crap. What?!’_  
  
“A-ah if you believe that would help me, I’d be happy to accept your generosity…”  
  
**You have gained the Healer skill**  
Healer (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
Skill needed to learn Healing magics, higher levels make Healing spells more effective and unlock more Healing spells.  
Passive Skill  
  
**You have learned the sub-skill Blessing**  
Blessing (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
Calling upon the Gods for help has given you the power to heal small wounds. The most basic of Healing spells. Heals 5% of max HP of one target. Higher levels raise healing rate.  
Mana consumption: 25  
  
‘Wow. I learned a really useful skill. To make it even better, it’s a skill that people normally don’t learn unless they are a Priest-class or something like that.’  
  
Unknown to the cross-player the game kept track of how often a Player injured themselves within a Safe Zone and would give out the skill as a safety precaution. Receiving the skill was actually rather putiful as it indicated the game thought you were incapable of keeping yourself alive.  
  
“I thank you for this gift miss Priestess.” Mizuuma bowed deeply to her.  
  
“So long as you be more careful my Child. And make sure you do not try climbing the Church again. It would be an insult to the Goddess herself if you were to kill yourself upon this holy ground.” With that the Priestess turned and walked away.  
  
Mizuuma watched her go before rolling his eyes when she could no longer see him. Sure he’d get in trouble with the Church if he gets caught climbing again…  
  
But only if he gets caught.  
  
Looks like he’s really gonna have to learn the Sneak skill somehow. Speaking of skills. He couldn’t believe his luck in getting Blessing. Such a skill would be essential for fighting mobs on his own or when Narcissa wasn’t around. But that mana cost…for 25 mana each cast he’d only be able to use it 4 times. Well he’d worry about that later…  
  
Mizuuma looked at the top of the Church. The building really was large. Some buildings in Royal Road were made to resemble Scandinavian architecture. It made sense considering a lot of the Lore of the game was inspired by Norse mythology. The Church was for Freya for crying out loud. But most places were structured into designs from other regions and later time periods. Many of the houses looking more English with stone and brick instead of wood. The Church was in a mix of Greek and Gothic style with tall ceilings and rounded archways inside and plenty of pillars outside surrounded by a garden.  It was very spacious and the windows had stained glass of all colors depicting the Goddess Freya.  
  
The main point here is that while medieval Scandinavian churches would have been mainly wood with multi-layered roofs all slanted downward (making it more difficult to climb or hide from view), the Church in the game had multiple spires, towers and niches that looked both incredibly fun to climb and could be used as hiding places.  
  
‘If I can get Sneak and come here at night when it’s much darker…there’ll be a better chance for getting to the top without being spotted. I’ve maxed my Sneak in Skyrim, I can totally do it here too!’  
  
Why was Mizuuma so dead set on climbing this Church despite the dangers?  
  
Because she wanted to. No real reason needed. She started playing this game to have fun in whatever way she wants, thus she will do what she wants regardless of any rhyme or reason. There was a tall thing, and she wished to climb it.  
  
Screw logic.  
  
The sun was still quite bright and there were a lot of people around. With a sigh Mizuuma turned away from the church and left for now. He would have to learn Sneak before even attempting to scale the building again.  
  
There was still many hours before evening and his shift at the Inn. He’d already tried to kill the scarecrow, helped Satellite, hunted mobs…oh right! He could see if Narcissa wanted play tag on the rooftops.  
  
\- - -  
  
Mizuuma laughed wildly as he leaped off the rooftop. His Acrobatics skill and Agility were high enough by this point that he wouldn’t fall unless he purposely threw himself off the buildings. While it was good fun and practice the fact that he wasn’t taking a smash visit to the ground meant his Vitality and Toughness weren’t going up anymore.  
  
Narcissa flew past him, almost managing to grab him. The games of tag weren’t only giving Mizu a boost to his stats and skills. Narcissa had noticed her own Agility and Flight increasing because of these almost daily sessions. Plus her Blessing skill got a lot of workout from healing Mizu’s injuries.  
  
‘He hasn’t fallen once today though, I guess he’s getting better…’  
  
Even as Mizuuma twisted away from Narcissa’s hands and darted in another direction the Fairy was already twisting her body midair and flaring her wings to change her momentum. Flying in a straight line was easy, turning was something that took practice. In a way she was glad she and Mizu started these ‘games’ of theirs. It didn’t do anything for levels or quest progressions but it was fun.  
  
‘I’d almost forgotten what it was like to just have fun and not worry about Quests and Training.’  
  
Not for the first time the large Fairy grinned and laughed out loud as she dove to Tag her friend. It had been getting more difficult lately as he’d begun hiding himself, his small form easily slipping into the cramped spaces between the shingles and chimneys.  
  
Speaking of…she glanced around and realized she’d lost sight of him. Damn that kid, oh wait, he’s older than her…  
  
Mizuuma peered out carefully from behind his hiding spot. Earlier he finally got the system message he’d been hoping for.  
  
**You have learned a new skill, Sneak**  
Sneak (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
You can now hide your presence  
Lowers chance of being noticed by mobs  
Blend in more with shadows and surroundings  
Passive Skill  
  
‘Yeeeeeeees~’  
  
The sneak skill was Passive (so it doesn’t consume mana to use) that gained experience only when the user is hiding while there are Mobs or Players in the area searching for them, or when they’re trying to walk around without being noticed by them. Meaning that even if a Player hid in a bush for hours, the skill will not level up unless there is another person or mob nearby. Sneaking by mobs without being detected will raise the EXP. High enough Sneak can allow a Player to escape from hostile Mobs or gain a Sneak Attack bonus.  
  
There were all sorts of different uses for the Sneak skill. Higher tier Sneak will unlock other related skills such as Pickpocket or even Invisibility (but that would require a Mastery of the skill and has a huge mana consumption rate).  
  
Grinning widely, Mizuuma crouched down and made himself even smaller in his hiding spot. Narcissa flew past and he tried his best to keep quiet. He pulled up his Skills menu quietly and saw the EXP for Sneak slowly rise. Sweet.  
  
“Dammit Mizu! Are you trying to play Tag or Hide and Seek?!”  
  
A sudden wicked idea crossed his mind and Mizu carefully crept closer to Narcissa and after a beat he leapt at her with all his strength, arms outstretched and a wide toothy grin.  
  
“SURPRISE BUTT SEX!!!”  
  
The Fairy gave a startled squeal as the much smaller Player wrapped around her in a tight embrace and the two swung around wildly as she flailed and tried to stay airborne. He was cackling the entire time as she yelled obscenities at him.  
  
Ambush successful. No regrets.  
  
Even as Narcissa kicked him in the stomach to dislodge him and proceeded to stomp on him until he was forced to cast Blessing to keep himself from dying, the grin never left his face as he laughed.  
  
\- - - -  
  
Casting Blessing after flinging himself off rooftops was both tedious and painful. He would have to find a more deserted area due to all the attention he was starting to get from both the other Players and NPCs who’ve started talking about the suicidal child. A few Players have begun to think he was actually a quest NPC. Funny as that would be he wasn’t in the mood to deal with other people.  
  
He could only cast Blessing 4 times before he ran out of Mana. While Mana would recover over time, it was much too slow for him to just keep doing it. He quickly decided to just grind his Sneak skill instead. As he snuck around the city he wondered how to raise his max MP.  
  
Did raising Wisdom or Intelligence raise your max MP? He remembered hearing something about reading books to raise one of those stats but he couldn’t remember which one.  
  
He glanced up at the sky and noted the sun’s position. First day of work as the Inn would be starting in maybe half an hour. He climbed another building and tried to sneak his way to the Inn.  
  
With so many Players milling around the streets beneath him, Mizuuma was able to grind the Sneak skill pretty well. Was this some bug in the system? That the game would still count him as being hidden despite being on the roof and therefore there was no way for people to actually find him? It wasn’t like he was cheating the system, he WAS staying hidden from people…but being up here on the roofs made leveling his skill way too easy. The only people he REALLY had to hide from were the flying ones (Fairies, Angels and others Races like them were rare though. Now that he thinks about it…why weren’t there more Fairies around?)  
  
Bug exploits aside…  
  
**You have reached Beginner Lv. 3 in Sneak**  
You’re better at blending in with the shadows. It is slightly more difficult to be found by others.  
  
Cool. Though speaking of which…before a Player choses their Class they can only create 10 skills…that meant he only had room for one more major skill before he would be forced to pick a Class. Well that was something to think about later. Thank Pablo that sub-skills don’t count as Skills.  
  
The inn was just the next street over. He even checked his Map to make sure. He made good time getting there, not having to push his way through the crowded streets helped a lot in that respect. Why didn’t more people travel via rooftop?  
  
Roof hopping wasn’t anything at all like what he’d seen in Anime where people just jumped smoothly over the rooftops. In reality (or not, this was a game after all) his travel was mainly leaping and scrambling ungracefully as he tried to grip onto any surface he could to keep from plummeting to his death.  
  
Walking into the Inn, Mizuuma immediately spotted Rodrich and merrily bounced over to him, his Waitress uniform already on. A few patrons turned to stare at what looked like an adorable Loli waitress with a uniform very different from the plain blouse and dresses most NPCs wore. This dress was more like a simplified Maid outfit the likes of which you’d see in a modern Maid Cafe.  
  
The black skirt reached modestly past the knees and was lined on the bottom with an inner layer of white. There was a rounded apron tied around the waist and the top was a black short sleeved blouse with a white vest and a red bow. There was even a White headpiece with red ribbon tied off into bows of either side of the head.  
  
The skirt fluttered with every movement and many Players stared as the Waitress exchanged a few words with the Owner and Chef of the Inn before bouncing over to the counter where ‘she’ met with another Waitress (this one in the usual plain dress) and the two went off to grab plates and towels.  
  
“D-do you guys see this too?” One Player asked the guys in the next table. They all nodded dumbly.  
  
“That’s…definitely a Player wearing custom Player-made clothes. Definitely.” One guy declared.  
  
“She’s so cute~” Gushed another Player as he wished the other Waitresses would wear the same thing.  
  
Meanwhile…  
  
‘Roderick was sure surprised by my outfit…luckily Gregory (the Inn’s Owner) liked it so I was allowed to keep wearing it during shift…but…I should have known…’  
  
Mizuuma glanced over at the Players seated around the Inn’s restaurant section. They were all staring. He felt a little awkward even as a part of him wanted to preen in their attention. If he thought of it like cosplaying he didn’t feel uncomfortable with the stares so he simply shifted his mindset towards that.  
  
He also caught Gregory watching the customer’s reactions toward his outfit and had to hold back a snort of laughter. For an NPC, Gregory was surprisingly aware of things. He’d already noticed the attention the dress was getting and was obviously thinking of changing the Inn’s uniform. Good business sense, with his staff dressed in attention grabbing outfits he’d be able to pull in more customers.  
  
Mizuuma made a mental note to give him Satellite’s information later so he could commission her multiple copies of the outfit. He’d need to help Satellite brainstorm a male butler version of the uniform too…  
  
Lost in his thoughts, Mizuuma almost missed the Waitress he was following (Linda? It would be so much easier if people had their names above their heads, but Royal Road wanted to go for Realism so there was no noticeable difference between Players or NPCs) teach him the basics of working here. He knew most of this already but it was nice to be told exactly what was being expected of him. He would come in and help clean the tables, deliver food and get people’s orders. Refilling drinks was also part of his duties. When Linda learned Mizuuma was going to be learning Cooking from Rodrich, she told him that he’d be able to mix drinks for the customers too.  
  
Of course he’ll have to work here for a while to see whether or not he’s a good worker before being given so much responsibility. Linda also gave him a copy of the menu to memorize all the dishes and drinks served here. For tonight he was just shadowing her as she worked to see what it was like. Of course he would be expected to work as well but all newbies needed a more experienced worker to be by their side for a few days before being allowed to work alone.  
  
“Table 4.” An assistant Chef called out as he placed two plates of food on the counter near the kitchen window. Linda motioned Mizuuma to follow her and the cross-dresser put his thoughts to the side to focus on his new job.  
  
The next few hours was a rush of activity as Mizu swept through the tavern with plates, both piled high with fresh food and dirty dishes to be brought to the kitchen. He greeted the customers politely and with a bright smile, pitching his voice ever-so slightly higher for maximum adorability.  
  
A few of the other serving staff were amazed at how fast he worked. Never standing still for more than a few moments. If he wasn’t serving food or taking orders, he went around the tables to ask how the customers were doing and whether they needed anything. If some customers leave, he would immediately be there to stack up the plates and wipe down the table. Linda stared, bemused as the newbie she was supposed to be teaching went off on his own and served the customers flawlessly.  
  
More amazing was HOW he moved around. He twirled (something that was very noticeable due to his skirt fluttering as he moved) and spun to maneuver past people, tables and chairs. Even Mizu was surprised at how quickly he could move. Though considering how high his Agility and Acrobatics were, it wasn’t all that surprising.  
  
Sometimes the patrons would try to strike up a conversation. After asking Linda if it was alright to respond to them (she said it was fine so long as he didn’t neglect his duties) he would sometimes make small talk with them while refilling their drinks or handing out their food.  
  
Which customers were Players and which were NPCs were obvious when they asked about his clothes. The Players would question the ‘Lolita’ style maid outfit while the NPCs would remark about how outlandish and yet charming his dress was. Since he looked like a young girl, Mizu didn’t have to deal with inappropriate advances….much.  
  
There were a few guys who…were a bit too touchy for his tastes. Whenever one tried to sneakily touch the cross-dresser he would slap their hands away and call them out on it. Most of the time that got them to stop (as well as receiving disgusted glares from the other people around them) and they would back off. A few were more belligerent but quieted down because they didn’t want to start trouble. The problem arose much later. When the tavern was winding down for the night, many customers leaving or heading upstairs to the Inn for the night, a group of large men came into the tavern. They were armored in thick leather and steel gear, looked to be some type of Warrior class and had a stench of alcohol around them.  
  
‘Drunks.’ Miz realized in disgust. The group stumbled to an open table and laughed uproariously to each other over something one of them said. He saw another waitress (Marble) walk over to take their order. One of the men was leering at her (and her generous bust) before making rude remarks in a slurred voice. Marble was uncomfortable but tried her best to remain professional. Miz saw the moment one of them grabbed her. She cried out in surprise and then fear as the man pulled her into his lap, to the laughter of his buddies. Gregory was already walking over to tell them to unhand her and one of the waiters was heading over too.  
  
There weren’t many patrons in the tavern but this point, only two other tables were occupied. All activity seemed to stop as everyone looked towards the group of drunks to watch the confrontation.  
  
“Sirs. Please unhand my employee. This is NOT that type of establishment.” Gregory stated firmly as he stood before the man who was holding Marble. She had tears in her eyes and was struggling against his grip. Mizu saw Gregory’s fists clench and was struck by how much the man obviously cared for his employees.  
  
The group of drunks only laughed and one even started inching his hand towards his Axe. “What are ya gonna do ‘bout it huh?” The man jeered. “Are you gonna fight us? I could cut you down right now and there’d be no problems, sure I might have to pay a fine but you’re just a NPC…”  
  
Okay. Enough was enough.  
  
“HEY!”  
  
The man with the Axe (who was probably the leader, maybe) turned and looked bemusedly at the tiny girl glaring up at him. She didn’t even reach his chest. And what was she wearing? Strange clothes…but really…nice~  
  
“Oh little girl? What’s wrong huh?” He leered at the child. His friends were all chuckling as they too stared at this child who looked ridiculous trying to intimidate them.  
  
“You guys are being very rude. Put her down and get out.”  
  
They laughed and Mizuuma found himself inwardly cursing. How DARE they look down on him?! Just ‘cause they’re tall they think they could get away with treating him like a child…  
  
His Killing Intent wasn’t high enough to intimidate them into leaving but if they wouldn’t leave peacefully…  
  
“I won’t repeat myself. Get out before I’m forced to hurt you.”  
  
They laughed harder, Marble managed to get out of the grip of the man holding her and ran to the backrooms. Gregory looked shocked. Some of the other patrons in the tavern looked like they wanted to step in and help. Mizu wasn’t sure if they were NPCs or Players but that wasn’t important right now. Seeing as the rude group of warriors weren’t taking him seriously Mizuuma reached into his Inventory and took out his Scissors.  
  
“Don’t say I never warned you.”  
  
Before they had a chance to react Mizu was already lunging up and aiming the sewing implement at the leader(?)’s throat. The man cried out in pain as he managed to move enough to not have his throat ripped open by the surprise attack. The stainless steel blade, sharpened regularly to keep it’s edge, because scissors must always be kept sharp for optimal use, bit through the side of his neck, blood already beginning to pour out.  
  
“YOU BITCH!” The man yelled as he clamped on hand over his bleeding neck.  
  
“Get out. I’m being nice by giving you one last chance to back down.” Mizuuma responded coldly as he backed off a bit, still clutching the blood stained scissors. In a safe zone like a major city, combat was usually forbidden but that was just an unspoken rule, Players and NPCs can still get into fights. Murderers just get a red mark and were barred from certain features as punishment for a while. There were four large Warriors and only one of him. They had full equipment on while he only had a dress. They had weapons and he only had a small pair of scissors…  
  
The odds were pretty bad…but…  
  
Bare-Hand Fighting: Combat Skills pending creation: 1  
  
“Create skill, Bone Breaker, a skill that can break, cripple and crush bones…” Mizuuma whispered under his breath as he felt the System analyze his words.  
  
Skill: Bone Breaker, pending creation, please complete action by attacking an enemy while the Skill Creation effect is on.  
  
With a vicious grin that showed too many teeth, Mizuuma struck out with his free hand aiming for the man’s elbow. They were all drunk and their movements were slowed, sloppy and anything like a reaction time was pretty much shot. His fist struck home and with a sickening CRUNCH the man screamed and as the attack cracked his humerus. It was a small crack, barely any damage really but the punch had also driven Mizu’s knuckles right into the man’s funny bone.  
  
Skill, Bone Breaker created  
Bone Breaker (Beginner Lv.1 0%)  
Strikes and attacks have a chance of crippling or breaking bones. Attacks aimed at joins have a chance of dislocating bones.  
Mana cost: 50  
  
The other three men screamed incoherently and rushed at the tiny boy. His Acrobatics skill combined with the Dodge skill that he’d unlocked today got a chance to be used in a way very different from his games of Tag with Narcissa. He darted back and forth and tried his best to not get hit. As a small target in such close quarters the drunk men ended up hitting each other instead of him. Miz wasn’t just gonna let them hit each other though, he stabbed out with the scissors anytime he saw an opening. The high Mana cost of Bone Breaker and even the active version of Bare-Hand Fighting was too much for him to afford to pay right now so all he could do was punch and kick with his passive Skills and just aim for weak spots in hopes of causing Critical damage with regular attacks.  
  
Thin bleeding cuts and bruises were starting to form on the men’s arms and legs, anywhere that wasn’t covered by their armor was attacked by fist and blade. A few of the men had finally realized using Swords and Axes were doing more harm than good and were now reaching out with their hands to grab at him. He was jerked back by one who managed to grab onto his skirt. As the others tried to take this chance to hit him, Mizu undid the tie and slipped out of the skirt. He’d convinced Satellite to make the different parts of the dress easily detachable to make it easier to change in and out.  
  
The man holding his skirt was left dumbstruck as Mizu easily dove and rolled away from the reaching hands and jumped onto the back on one of the men. With one hand gripping his hair, the other hand stabbed the scissors into the man’s ear, eliciting an agonized scream. absently noting the system message of Killing Intent +1, Mizuuma immediately jumped off the man before he could grab at him and dashed back to give himself more room.  
  
What a sight he must have made. Hair and clothes in a state of disarray, A blood covered pair of scissors in his left hand, his right hand was slightly bruised by this point (mental note, get some padded gloves) and a wide smile on his face. The man who’s eardrum he’d stabbed out was still writhing on the ground. The others had stopped moving, staring in horror. Mizu took a deep breath.  
  
“This is your last chance. Get out.”  
  
“Y-you’re insane…” One man stammered.  
  
“Oh? Why? Because I attacked him?” Mizu asked as he gestured to the man with the blood dribbling from his ear.  
  
“What about you guys? That guy there was perfectly fine with the idea of killing off an NPC. Even if you die, a Player can always come back. A dead NPC is gone forever. So what does that make you? And what excuse are you gonna make for assaulting that waitress? It doesn’t matter ‘cause she’s an NPC? You guys are terrible.”  
  
Mizuuma glared. Just because someone was an NPC doesn’t mean a person has the right to treat them as if they don’t have feelings. It’s just basic human decency.  
  
“Now get out. Or I’ll be aiming much lower with my scissors next time.” He purposely opened and shut the scissors, making a sharp snipping noise. The men paled drastically and a look of pure terror swept through their expressions. He even heard one of them whimper.  
  
The next second had the group running for the door and into the streets. Even the man with the bleeding ear managed to stumble out. As soon as the sounds of their footsteps faded, Mizuuma finally lowered his hands and slumped over. He put on a strong front but his hand throbbed in pain. He glanced at his health.  
  
HP- 147 / 610  
  
He was down below halfway…guess even glancing blows would deal damage…luckily none of them got a direct hit on him. His skills gained a bunch of EXP from that fight and he was sure the popup for a stat gain had happened a few times…mainly for Killing Intent.  
  
**Stats**  
Avatar- Mizuuma  
Alignment- Neutral  
Level- 11    Race- Human  
Class- None        Title- None  
Fame- 20  
HP- 247/660        MP- 20/250  
Strength- 57        Agility/Dexterity- 83  
Vitality/Stamina- 56  
Wisdom- 10        Intelligence- 10  
Leadership- 0        Luck- 6  
Defense- 28        Offense- 34  
Resistance to Magic- None  
Killing Intent- 23    Charisma- 8  
Toughness/Endurance- 21    Art- 63  
  
**Skills**  
Singing (Beginner Lv.9 83%)  
    Lyrics (Max Lv.)  
Bare-hand Fighting (Intermediate Lv.3 58%)  
    Bone Breaker (Beginner Lv.1 1%)  
Acrobatics (Intermediate Lv.3 11%)  
    Dodge (Beginner Lv.1 87%)  
Tailoring (Intermediate Lv.2 13%)  
Drawing (Beginner Lv.7 40%)  
    Mapping (Max Lv.)  
Repair (Intermediate Lv.2 14%)  
Cooking (Beginner Lv.4 78%)  
Healer (Beginner Lv.1 12%)  
    Blessing (Beginner Lv.1 12%)  
Sneak (Beginner Lv.3 8%)  
  
Well…that’s a thing. Cool.  
  
“Um…is Marble alright?” Mizuuma asked Gregory, who was still staring in shock at what just happened. Everyone was silent and just looking at him. A thought came to him and the cross-player suddenly felt like cursing.  
  
“Um…I didn’t just lose my job did I?”  
  
\- - - - -  
  
Luckily, he DIDN’T lose his job. He was thanked by Marble and Gregory and even given some EXP and money (so did that count as a Quest?! Is ‘protect from Players’ even a valid quest option?!) Since he was now Level 12 he decided to put the 5 stat points in Intelligence to raise his max Mana. Would seriously need to find a way to grind his Intelligence stat if all his skills were going to require so much Mana.  
  
After he cleaned the blood off and fixed up the tables and chairs thrown about during the fight he was told to just stay in the kitchen for the rest of the night, in case the men came back. Mizuuma apologized profusely for causing trouble but Gregory waved him off and said that it wasn’t a punishment, it was because he was worried about Mizuuma getting hurt if they came back.  
  
So Mizu found himself in the kitchen, learning Cooking from Rodrich. All in all, not a bad outcome. He was feeling quite satisfied with himself when he logged off that night.

\--  
  
**End Chapter 3**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have no idea where I'm going with this. I might be forced to actually go to the library and grind my INT.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slice of Life isn't something most people think of when they're playing an MMORPG, yet, that's the sort of thing I strive for.

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventures**  
  
**Chapter 4**  
  
\---  
  
Mizuuma was in a good mood when he logged in. It was early morning, the sun hadn’t even fully risen yet. He wanted to go hunting outside the city before heading in to find a way to grind his Intelligence Stat. He also wanted to practice Bone Breaker. He looked down at his equipment and made yet another mental note that he’d need better gear.  
  
The rabbits were easy pickings now. His Agility far surpassed theirs and he experimented with skinning them before they lost all their HP to see if that would yield more drops. It sort of worked but he got [Strips of Fur] instead of [Rabbit Pelt]. Trying to cut the pelt off with scissors while the rabbit was still alive worked better but was way too time consuming.  
  
He killed a few Raccoons for Mats and EXP before facing down a Fox. It was hard fighting alone without backup to heal him. Bone Breaker worked great on the larger animals and he even got some [Bone Fragment] as a rare drop. He built a fire and roasted the [Rabbit Meat] for breakfast. It was kinda plain since he still hadn’t gotten around to buying spices and other seasonings.  
  
There’s yet another mental note added to the already long list of stuff he needed to do. Pots and pans were needed too. Cutting board, a proper knife set…bowls and plates to put the food on…how is he gonna carry all that? Should he get a cart? Ooh that’d be cool, a wagon with walls and a roof. Like a mobile house! A wagon-house! Yes. He’d definitely get a Wagon-House once he’d saved up enough to leave the city and start his journey across the world. Then he’d have a place to put all his items so they don’t weigh him down in battle. He could sleep there and not have to get a tent. Sure he’d need to get fortifications and protection from bandits or Players so they can’t steal his stuff but it seemed worth it.  
  
He munched on the roasted rabbit and tried to figure out what to do first. Well he was getting close to that 10th skill so he really needed to think about a Class soon. That was probably most important for right now. But try as he might, Mizu couldn’t figure out what he wanted to be. Should he go for a Combat class or a Craftsmen class? He already had Bare-Hand Fighting so maybe he should try for Martial Artist? A part of him wanted to wait and find a Hidden Class or something special like that. But those classes tend to involve some kinda Quest that you get from some random method.  
  
Well, either way he would have to head back to the city before he can find any quests…he finished off his food and put out the fire carefully (getting burnt HURT) and casually walked back into the city, still covered in the blood of the woodland creatures he’d mercilessly ripped apart with his bare hands. Now people might wonder how Mizu could talk about NPC lives being precious and then killing Mobs without any guilt, well it’s because Mizuuma is of the opinion that if you’re gonna kill something, you need a good reason. If Bandits attack him then he’ll defend himself and they brought it on themselves for trying to kill him first. Same goes for Wolves that can Aggro onto a Player just by being near them. Rabbits, Raccoons and Foxes on the other hand, are Neutral Mobs that either don’t fight back or don’t initiate combat with a Player. In their case, Mizuuma justifies his slaughter of them as ‘I’m hungry and I want to eat them’ so he felt no guilt at tearing them apart limb from limb or cutting them open and spilling their organs everywhere.  
  
Mizuuma’s kinda messed up like that.  
  
But yeah, a Class huh? He COULD go to the Guild and ask them which Class would suit him, but that would be boring. He didn’t like other people deciding his life for him. He could go research more about different Classes and see if anything catches his eye. To do that he would need…  
  
“TO THE LIBRARY!”  
  
\- - - -  
  
Mizuuma discovered the Library a few weeks ago and had been severely tempted to go in (She loved reading more than anything else) but had held himself back because he knew that the second he stepped foot in there he would never leave. Well now he was free all day until sundown which was still HOURS away. He PM’d Narcissa and Satellite to tell them he would be busy ‘Soul Searching’ today and couldn’t hang out. The Fairy had responded with a PM full of LOLOLOLOL and Satellite had simply wished him good luck.  
  
_‘Nice to know at least ONE of my friends is supportive…’ The boy grumbled to himself._  
  
The Library was HUGE. He simply stared at how high the ceiling was and the walls of shelves as far as he could see. There were sliding ladders on every wall and he could see people milling about between the shelves or sitting down at tables. The place smelled of wood and glue, which gave Mizu a nostalgic feeling. How long had it been since he’d last gone to a library? There was a supply table with plenty of stacks of paper and pencils. Probably for people to jot down notes and other important things. He pocketed a small stack of papers (paper is always useful! It’s not because he likes to steal paper…can’t steal what’s free anyway) and 3 pencils. Looking around he decided to actually check out the books before anyone notices the ‘theft’.  
  
_‘Fiction…non-fiction…romance? Ugh. History? Meh…magic? Hmmmm what book would have info about Classes?’_  
  
He searched around and found a librarian. The tall man was middle aged, walked with a slight limp but managed to carry an armful of books and was putting them back on the shelves.  
  
“Um, excuse me? Would you like some help?” Mizuuma asked politely as he came up to him.  
  
“Ah? Help? I’m not that old that I need a child’s help.” The librarian frowned before his expression turned gentle. “But if you’re offering, than thank you, it would be nice to have some help.”  
  
He handed Mizu half his stack of books and the boy followed him around the library putting the books where the older man directed him and having too much fun indulging in his OCD through the act of organizing things neatly. When Mizu whined in disappointment over finishing the stack of books the Librarian actually laughed a little before petting Mizu’s head and telling him there were more books in the cart that he’d left a few aisles over. The squee of delight Mizu let out made the man laugh some more.  
  
The two continued putting books away and the Librarian (who introduced himself as Christo) began some small talk. As a person who loved talking to people, even if she wasn’t an overly social person, Mizuuma delighted in a chance to really have a conversation with an NPC. Not for the first time he was amazed at how powerful the AI was, if he didn’t know better he would have thought he was talking to a real person. Christo had been a Librarian here for over 25 years. He used to be a member of the Guard but an unfortunate run-in with a Minotaur ended that career. His leg was mangled so badly it took everything they had just to make it work again. Unfortunately he would have a limp forever. Christo told him of how he had been depressed and threw himself into books to escape from the sad reality of being a ‘cripple’. He told Mizu of how his desperate attempts to leave the real world problems behind had blossomed into a love for books and how he’d eventually decided to become a Librarian to take care of the books that he so loved.  
  
In return, Mizu told Christo about how he (she) was the eldest child in his family. How  he and his mother had lived together, separate from his father and younger brother, which he didn’t even know he had, due to immigration laws. He talked about how his mother had told him one day that his little brother was finally coming to live with them, how surprised he was to know he had a sibling. He told Christo about how he’d fallen down the stairs as a child and broken his leg, about waking up in the hospital while the doctors were putting in a cast, how scary and painful it was. Mizu talked about his younger sister, how he got to feel his mother’s pregnant belly, hold the newborn and watch her grow up. He complained about how his little sister was now taller than him and how she would always make him cook for her even though by rights she should know how to make Ramen on her own.  
  
That had started the subject of ‘what is Ramen?’ which led to Mizuuma going on a rant about the Greatest Food in the World. The two chatted away the time and before he knew it, they were finished with all the books. A notification had popped up to inform Mizu that his Fame, Charisma and closeness to Christo Ferdant had increased.  
  
“So Mizuuma. Not that I’m complaining about your help, you seemed quite happy to shelve things actually, but what did you come to the Library for?”  
  
The two were seated at a table, it was set to the side, away from the bookshelves and there was a pot of tea on it. Mizu had eagerly accept the drink when offered and now they sat together, resting their legs after walking all over the Library.

**You have drank warm Chamomile Tea**

**+10% Cold resistance**

  
“Well I was originally planning to find a book all about different Classes. I need to decide soon what I want to do with my life.” Mizu looked down at his cup. Decide what to do with his life huh? That was something she still needed to do IRL as well. She knew what her skills were, she knew what she enjoyed doing…but a career? How many times had her parents nagged at her to get a proper job? That working as a waitress or cashier wasn’t a proper career.  
  
_‘What did we send you to collage for if you’re not even going to do anything with what you learned there?’_ Her dad had said.  
  
_‘Well it’s not like you even understand what it is that I went to collage for!’_ Mizu’s grip on his cup tightened in anger just thinking about it. All the fights she’d had with her father over her ‘useless hobbies’ and how ‘Art can never be used to make money’.  
  
Christo’s voice broke her out of her thoughts and with barely any effort she mentally went back to a ‘He’ as she settled back into her Avatar.  
  
“A Class is something important, that is true. But you don’t have to worry about having that same Class for the rest of your life. I mean, I had to switch Classes right?” Christo said teasingly. Mizu blushed and apologized but the man waved him off with a smile.  
  
“Ah to be young again. Endless possibilities lay before you. I understand why you’re so hesitant. There are so many paths you can take and you’re afraid you’ll pick the wrong one yes?” He asked gently.  
  
“Yeah…I know I can change my Class but it’s still an important decision.”  
  
“Well to start off, what would you like to do?”  
  
“I dunno. Part of me just wants to adventure off and travel the world. But that would be dangerous if I can’t defend myself. Should I become a fighter in order to be strong? Or a craftsman so I can make things like I enjoy doing?”  
  
“Making things? What sorts of things do you make?”  
  
Mizu’s eyes lit up “I can draw and I like making comics! I sew pretty well and making cute dolls is so much fun! I’m also pretty decent at Origami! I’ve been making Origami earrings for a while now but I can’t really get them to sell…” He trailed off and frowned.  
  
“I have a lot of things I like doing. I’d like to make them my career…but it’s hard. Even when I make comics, I know I’m not good enough for publishing…handmade dolls are cute but it’s not really something I’ll be able to mass produce for sales. The best thing would be to get commissioned for work but I’m not famous enough to get requests like that…”  
  
“So you want a Class that can earn money? Is that what you feel?”  
  
“Well a guy’s gotta eat right? If I can’t earn a living, I can’t support myself…my mom wants me to marry someone so we can support each other but I’m just not interested in people…”  
  
Christo nodded. “Earning a living is important. But your happiness is more so. Think about what it is that you WANT. Not how much money you’ll earn from it. What is it that you WANT to become? Who do you want to be?”  
  
“I…” Mizuuma looked down, his fingers moving the teacup back and forth.  
  
“I want to make people happy. I like telling a story to entertain people. I like making something cute and seeing their smiles when I show it to them. I like knowing that something I created, with my own hands, my own skills, can bring someone joy. I want to make something that will still be around after I’m gone. I want to leave behind proof that I existed, that there was a person who made those comics, those dolls…who made anything at all. That there was a ME. A me who made people smile. A me who was creative, and witty and could create whole worlds with their stories…”  
  
He looked up at Christo. “I want to make people happy with something that I created all by myself. I want that thing I created to let people know that I existed.”  
  
He blushed, suddenly aware he probably sounded incredibly pretentious.  
  
Christo Hmm’d as he sipped his tea. “You do not want to be forgotten.”  
  
“Yeah…pretty much I guess…”  
  
The Librarian smiled and pet Mizu’s head once again. “You do not have to worry about being forgotten. I’m sure anyone you meet, and anyone who’s received something that you’ve made would remember you, even a little. What you truly want in life is something you can achieve simply by being You and doing what you do.”  
  
“…So what should I do then? Even if it would make sense, I can’t…be Class-less forever.” By this point, Mizuuma wasn’t even sure if he was asking for advice in the game or IRL.  
  
“I’d suggest you chose a Class you can have fun with. Money is important, but as you’ve said, what’s most important to you ISN’T money. You can earn money by doing any old Quest or job, even hunting the beasts around the world will still net you enough coin to buy a meal and lodging. What you should do now is just have fun.”  
  
“Have fun huh?” Mizuuma smiled as he thought about it. While such a thing made perfect sense here in the game world…IRL is more complicated than that. Money was EVERYTHING in the real world. The cost of living was going up each year. Prices for food, electricity, internet…the list goes on…  
  
Well, escaping reality was why she started playing this game in the first place. She saved up all her money for months to afford the capsule and subscription. Her parents weren’t very happy about it but she had told them how other people could earn money though it by selling game items for real money, or posting Let’s Plays on the internet. In this way she managed to talk them into allowing her to have the game, but her father would still complain about how it was a waste of time and money and how she’d never amount to anything in life if she kept behaving like the child she appeared to be. It made her angry just to think about it. At least playing her games didn’t cause trouble for other people. Her hobbies were perfectly innocent compared to HIS gambling problem. Father DARED to say she was wasting money by playing games while he was the one who lost so much money on frickin’ horse racing that they had to move out of their house and into a tiny apartment that didn’t even have room for all their belongings, he dared to say that even as he runs off with his friends every night to play Mahjong while mother waited long into the night for him to come home.  
  
Mizuuma took a deep breath to calm hersel-himself down.  
  
This. This here was why she threw herself into games. So that she could have fun and just forget about her life. So she could just be someone else, for even a moment. It’s part of the reason why she always cross-plays. How much more of a different person could she be than to not even be a she?  
  
So forget that. Focus on the game. What class does he want to be?  
  
No, don’t even think of it in terms of what Class he wants. Think about what way he wants to have fun in the game. Well, he wanted to troll people by being a Trap. He also wanted to be a kitty-boy…wait. That’s it!  
  
“Is there a Class that has a skill for shapeshifting, transforming things or changing your appearance?”  
  
Christo looked surprised at his answer. He floundered for a bit before looking thoughtful. “A Class that allows Shapeshifting? Well there are some Mages that specialize in Illusions…but I feel that isn’t what you’re asking…”  
  
He thought for a bit. “You could find a Werewolf or a Vampire to infect you…but I don’t think that’s a proper path either. Druids…no…that isn’t what you’re going for either I’d wager. Changing things though, the only thing I can think of would be…an Alchemist.”  
  
“Alchemist?” Mizu perked up in interest. As a huge fan of FMA he was quite curious how Alchemy would be expressed in Royal Road.  
  
“Most Alchemists only make potions, poisons or explosives but there are some who study plants, animals and humans. They experiment with the flesh. I have heard of Alchemist who can create Chimeras by mixing animals together. I’m sure there could be some way to use that sort of knowledge for what you want to do.”  
  
“Alchemy…that actually sounds pretty cool…how would I go about this?”  
  
“You can find an Alchemist to take you in as their apprentice. Or you can read about Alchemy to gain the skill and experiment on your own but that wouldn’t grant you the Class. You could also simply go to the Alchemist Guild and gain the Alchemist class.” Christo said simply.  
  
Mizuuma nodded. It sounded kinda boring to simply get the Class change from a Guild. He also wasn’t sure about being an apprentice. That would tie him down and it wasn’t as if he knew any great Alchemists in the city…  
  
“Thanks Christo…I’ve got a lot to think about.”  
  
“No trouble Mizuuma. I wish you luck of finding your own path.”  
  
The two sat and drank their tea for a while after that. Chatting about small things without much weight. It was nice. After checking the time and realizing he still had many hours until sundown, Mizu decided to find some books on Alchemy to get started. Who knows, maybe he’ll find some way to unlock a Class-change Quest.  
  
\- - - - -  
  
Mizu spent the week doing nothing but hunting in the early mornings, reading throughout the day and working at night. While hunting he wasn’t trying to grind for EXP to raise his levels. He focused on raising his Skill levels. His Acrobatics and Dodge skill were practiced as he rolled and dashed around the mobs. While Foxes didn’t give much EXP anymore from killing them, the Skill EXP still rose like normally. His Vitality stat even went up from the nonstop movement that made him pant with exhaustion and taxed his body to it’s limits. The extraneous movement would be considered a waste of energy for people looking to hunt efficiently but since he wasn’t aiming to level up it wasn’t important.  
  
He was also continuing to cut mobs open while they still lived in an attempt to harvest drops before they died. Skinning a rabbit while it kicked and squirmed was both difficult in action but also quite gross and sickening to see. Other Players nearby would pale and some even called him a ‘Monster’ for his actions. Mizu didn’t listen. While it was distressing to see the rabbit in such pain, he had to do this while it lived because all things would disappear once they died. A part of him was also morbidly curious on how realistic the game was. He cut open the rabbits and the blood would pour out. The inside had bones and organs. Most people would have been too disgusted to continue past this but Mizu had spent her childhood with a mother who would prepare animals for food. Her mother would skin frogs alive and even show Mizu the frog’s insides as she worked.  
  
_‘Here is how you skin it. Cut a vertical slit here, on the belly from the base of the head down to here. Now slip your fingers in and peel it out to the sides, once you can get your hands around the frogs waist with one hand and hold the skin with the other you just have to pull…’_ Her mother would say. Mizu’s mother had grown up in China and had learned from a young age how to butcher and prepare animals for cooking. She would try to teach Mizu these skills. ‘Look here, the heart is this one and these are the lungs. Here, can you feel them?’ Mizu’s mother would hand the frog to the 5 year old girl who was more fascinated than anything else about being able to see the organs twitch and move as the frog gasped and struggled.  
  
Due to this childhood, Mizu wasn’t particularly disgusted by handling and touching the blood and guts. The only thing he had a problem with was the obvious pain the rabbit was in. Maybe there was a way to knock them unconscious without killing them? He already got the item [Pile of Organs] from the Rabbit. He wasn’t sure what it was used for but he kept them along with the [Bone Fragments]. Maybe he could use them for Alchemy.  
  
At the library he pulled book after book on Alchemy and sat at Christo’s table. The older man always had a teapot set up for him and Mizu even began to bring some cookies he made during his cooking lessons with Rodrich to share. Rodrich was shocked at some of the ‘new’ and revolutionary ideas Mizu had about cooking. ‘Raw fish over rice?! But how?!’  
  
Mizu wasn’t anywhere near the level needed to make ramen yet. His attempts at pulling noodles didn’t exactly work right. He had mostly the right ingredients (aside from a few substitutions for things he just couldn’t find in game) but somehow he couldn’t get the noodles to bounce and twist properly. Well, practice and all that right? He had time to experiment. Satellite was happily raking in money from Gregory buying multiple copies of the Waitress and Waiter outfits she and Mizuuma designed. Narcissa had left the city to go back to adventuring. Mizu really had nothing else to do besides read and power grind his Skills. He didn’t even have time to visit Mr. Scarecrow. He kinda missed it. Another mental note was made to at least visit the Training Hall once a day, even if he couldn’t spend all his time trying to kill it.  
  
He was slowly saving up his money to buy a cart. There were some nice ones in the market he had his eye on. He needed something that would have room inside for him to set up a kitchen, storage area, sleeping area…and since he didn’t want to bother with a horse he would need something that he could drag around by himself. Mizu heard rumors of Players with a Artificing Skill making carts that can be driven like cars. Those required all sorts of paperwork to get a license for and were incredibly expensive. Even working part-time at the Tailorshop and Tavern weren’t enough to afford something like that so early in the game. He even started earning some money from Christo for helping out around the library. Everything was carefully saved in preparation for buying a cart.  
  
\- - - - -  
  
It finally came! The System Message he’d been waiting for!  
  
**You have gained the skill Alchemy**  
From reading texts about this practice you have gained an understanding of the Skill.  
**Alchemy (Beginner Lv.1 0%)**  
The understanding of the physical world and the way substances work together to create various effects. Higher levels unlocks sub-skills and raises effectiveness of potions created.  
**Passive Skill**  
  
**You have gained the item [Mizuuma’s Alchemical Journal]**  
The Alchemical Journal records all ingredients discovered and their effects once learned. The Journal records all experiments and combinations of ingredients once learned. The Journal records all complete recipes once learned. Item cannot be dropped, destroyed, sold or stolen.  
  
**You have gained the Sub-Skill Brew**  
**Brew (Beginner Lv.1 0%)**  
The skill of mixing various ingredients together to create potions. (Requires [Cauldron], [Empty Bottle], ingredients and a heat source to create Potions)  
**Passive Skill**  
  
**For efforts made to understand the anatomy of living creatures you have gained the Sub-Skill Dissect**  
**Dissect (Beginner Lv.1 0%)**  
Drop rates for mobs go up. Chance of rare item drop go up. Chance of special item drop goes up. Higher levels raises chance for rare/special drops. Current rate 0.05%.  
**Passive**  
  
**You have created the Sub-Skill Dissect as a result of your own actions.**  
+10 WIS | +10 AGL/DEX  
  
Oh. Wow.  
  
Mizuuma stared at the notification in front of him. He’d expected to gain Alchemy after studying it for so long but…two sub-skills and Stat increases? And Dissect was one he’d earned from cutting Rabbits, Raccoons and Foxes open. Cool.  
  
**System Notice: You now have 10 Skills. You are barred from creating more Skills until you convert to a Class**  
  
Fuck.  
  
\- - - - -  
  
Mizuuma sighed. In his hands he had some cloth, needle and thread. He was sewing another stuffed animal (a fox this time). Making more dolls for sale seemed like a good idea as any to get enough money to buy all the supplies he’d need to start working on his Alchemy skill. As soon as he managed to obtain the Alchemist Class he was gonna invest in the Pottery skill or something to make his own [Bottles]. Buying them all would be too expensive. He bought an average sized cauldron earlier and damn that thing was pricy for his level. It was also too heavy to fit into his [Beginner’s Item Pouch] so he had to use the precious sub-space item slot for it. Yet more reason for him to quickly get a [Cart] to put all his stuff in.  
  
Around him, people were pointing, staring and generally making a fuss. Were Mizuuma paying attention to them he might have gotten uncomfortable at the attention. As it was however, occupied by his thoughts and focused on stitching the doll in front of him, he didn’t notice. Even if he did, he would understand why they were all behaving this way.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
Even as his mind roamed elsewhere and his hands carefully worked the cloth held between them, Mizuuma was steadily and unendingly kicking the Scarecrow.  
  
In the crotch.  
  
While humming to himself.  
  
He would step up to kick with his left leg, step back, then step up and kick with his right. It was a steady rhythm alternating between his left and right legs. All the while his eyes never left the needle in his hand as he pulled it carefully in and out of the fabric. Multi-tasking FTW.  
  
**Vitality + 1**  
  
He ignored the system message and continued his thoughts. ‘My STR is high enough I can carry the cauldron but if I need to gather ingredients and bottles for potions as well it’s gonna get hectic in my Inventory…’  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
He absently pricked himself with the needle but merely pulled it out and continued sewing. _‘A small sized [Cart] with security settings built in costs around 500 Gold. I have 26 Gold currently. My salary at Satellite’s shop is 10 Silver an hour and I don’t normally stay more than 5 hours there because I have stuff to do.’_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_‘My salary at the Inn is 20 Silver per hour. I generally start work around 5PM to 11PM. Then I cook with Rodrich for a few hours, mainly prepping ingredients for the next morning.’_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_‘So on average right now I get around 190 Silver a day if I work a full 5 hours with Satellite. 100 Silvers equals 1 Gold. I make almost 2 Gold a day. To get 500 Gold I would have to work around 300 days (rounded up to make sure I would have enough).’_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
He finished sewing the part he was holding and absently moved onto the next part. How many parts had he done? Four limbs for arms and legs, the head…oh he should work on the body now. _‘300 days is almost a full year, once again the math was a little off but this is just a rough guess-timation.’_  
  
Thud.Thud.Thud.  
  
Which would mean he’d need to work for almost a year to make enough to afford his [Cart]. He couldn’t wait that long. This left him with one choice. He finished humming his current song and absently switch to another one. His Singing skill went up much slower than singing out loud but it still gained experience.  
  
ThudThudThud.  
  
He would need to seriously start selling things to earn more money. He dolls were cute and relatively popular but they took waaaaay too long to make. There had to be some other crafted item he could sell that was faster to produce.  
  
ThudThudThud.  
  
It was simple. He could make Origami animals for sale. Everyone likes Origami. Heck, her teachers at Art school always told her that her Origami was her strongest skill, artistically speaking. There was plenty of free paper at the library, he still had a rather large stack of them actually. That would definitely earn more than what little Copper he got as drops from the mobs around the city. Even with the Dissect skill they wouldn’t drop anything higher than Copper coins.  
  
THUDTHUDTHUD.  
  
Speaking of which, he really needed to get better equipment. Since his Tailoring skill was already Intermediate he could easily work with cloth, leather, hide and even enforce the leather to a stiffer and more powerful material. With Satellite’s help he could make a decent set of equipment in preparation for adventuring.  
  
**THUDTHUDTHUD!**  
  
As his thoughts raced faster, so too did his kicks. Even as distracted as he was, his movements didn’t falter. The doll in his hands was now having it’s limbs flipped inside out in preparation for stuffing. His breath was beginning to grow short as the heightened speed began to erode his energy. He blinked and his eyes lost their glazed look to focus on the doll in his hands. Right, finished the basic creation of limbs, the process of putting them together properly required him to actually pay attention.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
The kicks to the scarecrow’s crotch finally slowed down back to the original tempo. Mizu finished stuffing the doll limbs with some wool scraps and began the complicated task to sewing the doll’s parts together, backwards. He made sure to leave a small opening to flip the whole doll inside-out at the end. The cross-player was glad that for whatever reason, his Avatar had the same fingernails as her real body IRL. They were purposely cut into pointed claws to give her a better grip on fabrics. It would have been impossible to pull the dolls inside out without her nails.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud,  
  
Now that it’s flipped inside-out, time to stuff the rest of it with wool and sew it closed. He put the finishing touches on and smiled in satisfaction. Ok, one fox doll done. He put it away and took out some more cloth. Multi-tasking like this was quite useful. His Tailoring skill had already gained experience and he would probably gain a +1 in Vitality or some other stat over time.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
Of course it would take much longer to gains stat points since he was doing such a repetitive action without too much effort. Should he try mixing up his movements? As he carefully lined up the fabric and cut out the shapes he needed for the next doll (a giraffe this time) he changed his kicks from the up-down motion to a side kick. This was a little harder for him to focus on since it required him to spin slightly and turn his body as well as aiming the kicks much higher. This took more effort and concentration to keep his balance, not cut his fingers with the scissors and land the kick solidly in the scarecrow’s side all at once.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
He faltered a few times and nearly fell over when he messed up the rhythm but Mizuuma carefully and patiently got back into the motions. Twist and roundhouse kick with the right leg. Bring the right leg back down and step into position. Twist and roundhouse kick with the left leg. Repeat over and over. He got his body back into the beat and turned his attention back onto the cloth in his hands.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
One of the leg pieces was a little lopsided but still workable. He cut out the rest of the pieces (making sure to put the already cut pieces into his inventory so he wouldn’t drop them) and took out his needle. Threading a needle while moving was a huge challenge in and of itself. He missed the eye multiple times and had to carefully hold the needle very close to his face to see it clearly. Focus. He needed to focus.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
**Vitality +1**  
  
There! The thread went into the eye and he quickly pulled it through before it could slip out. That would have sucked.  
  
**Agility/Dexterity +1**  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
Even as he unwound the thread from the spool to pull through the needle, Mizuuma absently wondered why the Agility and Dexterity stat were bound together. Well, it was good since leveling up his Agility from running and dodging would also raise his Dexterity for handiness and flexibility and vice-versa but why exactly did the game decided that they were both the same thing? Wait…what would it actually do?  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
Dexterity was…how skilled one was when performing tasks, mainly those that are done by hands. Agility was being able to move quickly and nimbly right? Did the game designers simply combine them because it would be easier? Personally, Mizu thought that while Dexterity had to do with hands, Agility had to do with feet. Even as his mind mused upon this dilemma, his hands were already cutting the thread and tying the end off.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
The next half hour consisted of Mizuuma working on the Giraffe doll while kicking the scarecrow. Ah…since he already reached the max Skills he couldn’t create a Kicking attack skill right? He would have wept in disappointment but frankly he didn’t really care enough. Every now and then he would change up his kicking style, just to challenge himself and test his concentration. Doing the same exact thing was boring after all. So even if he had to kick the scarecrow non-stop he wanted to do something more interesting. Eventually he was doing more elaborate kicks that involved stepping around the scarecrow and alternating between low kicks, side kicks and high kicks within the pattern.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
He pulled the needle and finished tying a final knot. There. The Giraffe doll was finished! His Tailoring skill had reached Intermediate 3, his Acrobatics skill had gained some experience as well, which he hadn’t expected.  
  
**You have gained a new Stat, Perception**  
**Perception +1**  
  
What, the what now?  
  
His new stat Perception, raises concentration and awareness of what is going on around you. Higher Perception allows one to find hidden things, see enemy weak points and sense things around oneself. Mizuuma’s kicks faltered once more as he was busy reading the menu he pulled up on his new Stat.  
  
Cool. It seemed like a very useful Stat to have. Since it only had 1 point so far, the effects weren’t very strong but he could already tell that once he put in more stat points to this, it would become very useful indeed.  
  
He’d be able to find more items when foraging! This was great for when he needed to gather ingredients! Mizu chuckled to himself at the great luck he had to gain such a stat. So…special stats he’s gained so far would be Killing Intent, Charisma, Toughness, Art and Perception. Awesome.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
**Singing has reach Intermediate**  
The strength of Buffs cast by songs has increased effects. You can now alter the effects of songs and create original songs.  
  
That…seems useful. Mizu pulled up his current song list to see what he could alter.  
  
**Bad Apple** : +VIT +AGI  
**Kagome Kagome** : +Black Magic Resistance  
**Let It Go** : +Water/Ice Magic damage  
**Toeto** : +Luck  
**Colors of the Wind** : +Earth Resistance +Earth Magic Damage  
**Tsumugi Uta** : +WIS  
**Hikari no Senritsu** : +Mana Regeneration +Health Regeneration  
  
Well…he really didn’t use most of these songs. If he was going to specialize certain songs for use he should chose ones he really liked and therefore will sing often. Could he delete songs he didn’t want?  
  
**Delete the song Toeto**  
Yes | No  
  
Ooh it works. He spent the next few hours reorganizing his songlist through deleting, altering the effects and adding on new songs (which raised his Singing skill somewhat). It involved him humming and softly singing to himself while still kicking the scarecrow. He wasn’t able to focus on sewing while messing around with his Skill screen unfortunately. The cloth and needles were put away for now as he focused on the melodies. Finally he was satisfied with the new songlist and effects. If music was going to grant buffs in this game, he might as well set it to work on music that he just naturally sang. He could put at most 2 effects per song, higher Singing skill would allow for more and stronger effects.  
  
**Bad Apple** : +AGL 10%  
**VOiCE** : +Luck 10%  
**Nan Er Dang Zi Qiang** : +VIT 5% | +STR 5%  
**Hikari no Senritsu** : MP 5% Regen | HP 5% Regen  
**Wave** : +STR 5% | Enemy -DEF 5%  
**Mo Li Hua** : Resistance to all Elements 1%  
**Tsumugi Uta** : +INT 5% | +WIS 5%  
**Lullaby for a Princess** : 10% Chance of Sleep  
**The Moon Rises** : 10% Chance of Curse  
**MACARON** : 10% Chance of Paralysis  
**ECHO** : 10% Chance of Confusion  
  
To add a resistance to a single element he could set the effects to 10% but that number lowers if he sets it to more elements. Since he wasn’t sure which type of element he’d need to look out for he simply set it to ALL elements. The percentage of effect was low but he could raise it once his Skill went up. Mizu was surprised he could even set that as an effect. Most of the songs were set to give Status effects. He felt they would be more useful if he was going to play Solo.  
  
Singing causes all who hear the song to have the effects applied for a period of time, thus it was much more efficient to sing during a battle. Therefore he needed to practice singing while attacking. So far he was only humming to himself while kicking the scarecrow. To really raise his Singing skill and test out the effects as they would be used in battle he would need to sing out loud. But…  
  
Mizuuma stopped kicking the scarecrow to look around at the curious crowd of Players. Seriously? Didn’t they have anything better to do than stare at him!? It was beginning to get on his nerves. Mizuuma allowed his Killing Intent to flare out and was rewarded when a few Players shivered and looked around in confusion at where the sudden chill came from. He has sung in front of a crowd before during Karaoke at Anime conventions but this was different. These people weren’t fellow Otaku or friends. At the same time Mizuuma felt an urge to perform for them anyway. It was a strange, contradicting feeling. He felt awkward singing in front of a crowd of strangers but he also felt a desire to perform for them. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Mizu adjusted his kicking pattern once again and took out the cloth to work on a new stuffed animal. Jellyfish this time, a simple idea in concept but the bell shape was pretty tricky.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_“Fate has been cruel and Order unkind._  
_How can I have sent you away?_  
_The blame was my own, the punishment yours._  
_The Harmony’s silent today…”_  
  
He sang even as he continued moving. His kicks were a little slower and he had to carefully breathe so that his voice wouldn’t come out with hitches with each kick. In his hands he carefully moved the scissors through the cloth.  
  
_“But into the stillness I’ll bring you a song._  
_And I will, your company keep._  
_Till your tired eyes, and my lullabies._  
_Have carried you softly to sleep…”_  
  
**+1 Perception**  
  
_“Ah Ah Ah~ Ah Ah Ah~ Ah Ah Ah~”_  
  
He was forced to simply vocalize the instrumental parts. There had to be a way to actually have the music play along with his singing right? Note, figure out a way to play music and sing at the same time.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_“Once did a pony who shone like the sun,_  
_look out on her kingdom and sighed~_  
_She smiled and said ‘Surely, there is no pony so lovely,_  
_and so well beloved as I’~”_  
  
The Players gathered around him had all stopped their own training and were listening to the song. A few looked confused about the ‘pony’ reference.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_“So great was her rein and so brilliant her glory,_  
_that long was the shadow she cast~_  
_Which fell dark upon the young sister she loved,_  
_and grew only darker as days and nights passed~”_  
  
A few people were already relaxing under the effects of the song despite the full song not being sung yet. Interesting. Singing level Intermediate was not to be underestimated.  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_“Soon did that pony take notice_  
_that others did not give her sister her dues._  
_And neither had she loved her as she deserved,_  
_she watched as her sister’s unhappiness grew~”_  
  
A few people were blinking and wavering on their feet. Mizuuma was singing the shorter version of the song, the full song was over 7 minutes and would be inconvenient to sing in battle, thus he went with the shortened version that would still convey the proper meaning of the song.  
  
**+1 VIT**  
  
_“But such is the way of the limelight_  
_It sweetly takes hold of the mind of it’s host~_  
_And that foolish pony did nothing to stop,_  
_The **destruction** of one who had needed her most~”_  
  
At the word ‘Destruction’ a few people jolted at the extra energy Mizu put into that word. He nearly lost his footing and managed to hide his mistake by changing the kicking pattern quickly. He realized his hands had stopped moving and focused his attention back on the cloth.  
  
Thud. Thud.  
  
_“Lullay moon princess, goodnight sister mine_  
_Rest now in moonlight’s embrace_  
_Bear up my lullaby, winds of the earth_  
_Through clouds and through sky and through space~”_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
He finished cutting out all the tentacles and the head for the jellyfish.  
  
_“Carry the peace and the coolness of night_  
_And carry my sorrow in kind~_  
_Luna, you’re loved so much more than you know_  
_May troubles be far from your mind~”_  
  
Mizu felt his eyes tearing up slightly and his voice wavered with the emotional FEELS he couldn’t help but go through as he sang.  
  
_“And forgive me for being so blind…”_  
  
He stopped kicking but continued to vocalize the instrumental. He needed to thread the needle now anyway. He tied off the end of the thread and moved to kick again.  
  
_“The years now before us_  
_Fearful and unknown~_  
_I never imagined_  
_I’d face them on my own~”_  
  
A few Players had actually dropped down asleep. Most were still awake and listening. He could see the realization dawning on their faces about the effects of this particular song.  
  
_“May these thousand winters_  
_Swiftly pass I pray~_  
_I love you…I miss you…_  
_All these miles away~”_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_“May all your dreams be sweet tonight_  
_Safe upon your bed of moonlight~”_  
  
He finished sewing a tentacle.  
  
_“And know not of sadness, pain or care_  
_And when I dream I’ll fly away_  
_and meet you there…”_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
_“Sleep…”_  
  
He heard another Player lose the fight against the song’s effect and slump over.  
  
_“Sleep…”_  
  
Thud. Thud. Thud.  
  
Another tentacle finished.  
  
_“Sleep…”_  
  
He finished the song and took a deep breath. Damn that song always gave him the FEELS. He stopped kicking the scarecrow and stepped back to stretch a little. How long had he been doing this again? A quiet sound of clapping hands came from around him. The Players who were still awake applauded quietly, mindful of those who were asleep. They looked rather peaceful actually.  
  
“That song was really pretty. What’s it from?” One of the Players asked him.  
  
“It’s a fanmade My Little Pony song.” Mizu responded even as he shook his ams and legs out. His muscles felt surprisingly sore.  
  
“A…what?”  
  
“Isn’t that a little girl’s cartoon?”  
  
“Hey, the fanbase makes some really nice work. Don’t mock it.” Mizu retorted.  
  
“So…what…was…this?” One Player nudged a sleeping woman on the ground. She mumbled but didn’t wake.  
  
“I’ve heard of Bards using their songs to give Buffs but I’ve never seen a Song effect like this…”  
  
“There’s actually a whole list of effects you can put into a Song. I guess most Bards just don’t bother with lullabies. They’re not really useful for Parties since they’ll put everyone to sleep.”  
  
“That was really nice though. Do you know any other songs?”  
  
Mizu blinked and looked at all the eager faces. Wha? Did they think he was holding a concert or anything? Even as he complained to himself, he couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride that people enjoyed his singing.  
  
“I know plenty of songs.” He finally answered.  
  
“I didn’t know you could sing songs from IRL in the game…”  
  
“Well why can’t you? There’s no rule against it right?”  
  
“W-well…when you put it like that…huh…I never even thought about that. Don’t people usually just learn songs from NPCs?”  
  
“Excuse us, sorry…excuse us.” A person pushed through the crowd surrounding Mizuuma. An Elf with blonde hair, tinted green, he felt familiar somehow.  
  
“I thought I recognized that cute singing voice. You’ve gotten much better than the last time we saw you.”  
  
Mizuuma stared at the Elf blankly. The Elf’s companions stepped up as well. A Human and a Barbarian. The sense of familiarity tugged at Mizuuma. He knew these people…not well but he had definitely met them before…  
  
“Pineapple!” Mizu realized. Pineapple, Wasd and…what was the last one’s name again? The first Players he’d interacted with upon entering the game.  
  
The crowd had begun dispersing. Players gently waking their sleeping friends as they left to go back to doing their own things. Soon, only Mizuuma and the 3 others were in the cubicle. Wait, make that 4 others. There was a stranger standing somewhat behind the Barbarian he couldn’t remember the name of.  
  
“Ah…I kinda forgot your name.” Pineapple grinned sheepishly.  
  
“It’s fine. I forgot her name.” Waving a hand in the Barbarian’s direction. “And I don’t think I’ve met you…” Mizuuma looked at the stranger. A female Halfling. She was around his height in fact…and didn’t that make him feel upset about his shortness.  
  
“Gasp. You forgot about ME?” The Barbarian girl mock lamented.  
  
“Your name is Tacnayn, how is anyone supposed to remember that?” The human, Wasd, said with a perfectly straight face.  
  
Tacnayn punched him in the arm with a scowl. He chuckled. The Halfling stepped out from behind Tacnayn and held out a hand to Mizuuma.  
  
“Hey there. I’m Embo.” Mizuuma took her hand and they shook. The Halfling had a firm grip and calloused hands.  
  
“Wow, I’m surprised we actually met up again. It’s been months right?” Pineapple mused.  
  
“Frankly I’m surprised you remember me. We only met for a few minutes at most…”  
  
“Well I kinda wanted to Friend you…you ran off before I could though…” Pineapple shrugged. “Plus, I never forget adorable things.” He added.  
  
Wut?  
  
Embo kicked Pineapple in the shin and rolled her eyes as he yelped. “Don’t be creepy. People will think you’re a pedo or something.”  
  
“W-what? I like cute things! Puppies, kittens and small children…” The Elf tried to defend himself.  
  
“Well, small things ARE cute…” Tacnayn said simply.  
  
“Well putting that aside, so what WAS your name again?” Wasd asked, seeming to be the only one not participating in the ‘Squee’-fest that Pineapple and Tacnayn were having over the topic of small animals.  
  
“I’m Mizuuma.”  
  
“So, did you really choose to be a Bard? Your Singing has improved somewhat.”  
  
“Nope, still technically without a Class. There IS a Class I’m hoping for but I’m not quite sure how to get it…”  
  
“Oh? What Class? Maybe we can help?” Pineapple stood up straight and seemed to want to seem knowledgable. Tacnayn hit him in the arm again.  
  
“I was thinking of Alchemist actually.” Mizu admitted. Emboss gave a low whistle.  
  
“Alchemist? that’s a hard one. I think you can only get that from an apprenticeship or something right?”  
  
“Meh, I’ll figure something out eventually, I’m not really in a rush.”  
  
“But if you wait too long you will be left far behind the other Players.” Wasd said with a frown.  
  
“I don’t plan to be a front-line Player. I just play to have fun.”  
  
“Oh…so you’re a casual…” Tacnayn almost sounded like she was disappointed.  
  
“Hey, playing for fun doesn’t make me a casual player. I just don’t have ‘getting strong’ or ‘doing major quests that effect the storyline of the entire game’ as goals. Don’t go writing off someone who’s just trying to have fun!”  
  
“….Sorry…”  
  
Mizuuma waved off her apology. “Enough about me, how have you guys been? Since you went through the effort of remembering me I might as well make an effort to socialize with you.”  
  
“…” The four just stared at the small boy before them.  
  
“…Did you mean to keep that last part in your head?” Embo finally asked with a bemused expression.  
  
“Keep what in my head?” Mizu tilted his head slightly in confusion.  
  
“Never mind…”  
  
\- - - - -  
  
The group had decided to move to somewhere more comfortable to talk. Currently the five of them were seated around a table in a restaurant. Pineapple had upgraded from an Archer to a Hunter. Wasd was now a Steel-Blood Blacksmith, he’d gotten a special Quest to upgrade his Class. Tacnayn had risen from a Swordsman to Berserker, which Pineapple said made it ‘Hard to go into battle with her without getting hit accidentally when she goes off on us.’.  
  
Embo had joined their party a week ago, she was of the Grocer Class. At Mizuuma’s confusion, Embo explained that she was something like a Merchant but specializing in food and ingredients. Her Class granted her a boost in the freshness and stat boosts on eating the food of cooking made from her ingredients.  
  
Mizuuma and Embo ended up in deep debates over ingredients and what would be needed to make Ramen. Embo was pleasantly surprised at Mizu’s Cooking skill and the two gushed over food.  
  
"It takes much more effort to make your own flavoring for the broth but Royal Road doesn't have flavor packets so you're going to HAVE to do it." Mizuuma sighs.  
  
"Understandable. From what I know from cooking IRL, chicken fat, bones and other meats can be used for a nice savory flavor."  
  
"But boiling meat in hot water for too long leeches them of their own flavor which makes the meat itself all yucky."  
  
"How long are you two going to talk about food?!" Pineapple groans. They both glare at him. ""As long as we want."" They reply in unison. Pineapple makes a sad sound and all the girls laughed at him. Well, girls plus Mizu, though he was beginning to realize he never actually told them he was a boy. Ah well, not all that important.  
  
WASD was patting Pineapple's back comfortingly. "It's okay bro."  
  
"Ugh...I want to go out and do a Quest or something." The archer moans sadly.  
  
"You guys can still do that. Don't feel you're stuck here." Embo rolls her eyes at the whining elf.  
  
Mizu traded recipes ideas with Embo for a few hours before bidding her good bye and going off to help Satellite with some errands. The rest of his day was pretty quiet. He was actually fine with that. Nothing wrong with a peaceful day without some huge conflict. It was relaxing. It was why he wanted to play this game in the first place.  
  
—

(Bonus picture)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Haven't worked on this in a while, like I've stated, most of my attention is on my Gravity Falls fic. I still want to work on this but it might be a while before my next update.


	5. Chapter 5

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventure**  
  
**Chapter 5**  
  
\---  
  
Mizuuma logged in with a determination in his soul. He would find some way to get the Alchemist's Class! He looked up multiple walkthroughs online and forum posts about the subject as well. There weren't many, it was a very niche Class that most people didn't bother with because of how complex and monotonously grindy it was. Alchemists were required to test and check every combination of ingredients, temperature, cooking time and more just to learn new recipes. There are many general recipes for things like Healing potions but unless a Player found a very powerful NPC teacher, they had no choice but to try out things themselves.  
  
Thing is, Mizuuma LOVED crafting games. The thought of being able to make his own recipes sounded absolutely amazing! Most people online spoke of how tedious it was to spend hours crafting health potions and have their entire stock used up in just a few minutes because of a tough fight. Why bother with slaving away, spending time you could be playing the game to stir a cauldron and still lose out to NPC shopkeepers that can restock faster than Players can?  
  
Well Mizuuma wasn't planning on making health potions for a living. He wanted to alter his physical appearance via mutagen effects. That was much more interesting. Items that allowed Players to alter their appearance were extremely rare and valuable. There were hair salons that could change color and style but more intense cosmetic alterations generally required difficult quests or expensive items. If Mizuuma really could make a potion that could (if not change one's species) make them grow Cat ears and a tail, he'd become famous.  
  
Not that he'd want the attention.  
  
And there was also his personal side quests of **[Invent Ramen]** and **[Devour a Dragon]** to strive for as well. Even if the **[Become a Kitty Boy Trap]** quest was his main goal, he was planning to have fun with others too. It's a game after all. He will have fun doing what HE wants, even if it's unconventional.  
  
Like that time he spent several days on Skyrim stealing every single [Cheese] item from across all of Tamriel in order to drop them all inside Dragon Reach's dining hall and Fus Ro Dah-ing them all over the place. The lag was amazing.  
  
Speaking of unconventional, every place online stated that the easiest way to get the Alchemists Class was to apply at the Alchemy Guild or find an NPC teacher. They will test the Player with a trivia mini-game for identifying ingredients and judge the Player on some simple potion brewing before giving the Player an official Alchemy license and BOOM, the Player can now switch classes to Alchemist.  
  
That sounded boring. A written test and a practical exam?! Is this a game or a school?! Mizuuma grumbled at the fact that there just weren't enough people playing an Alchemist class to really explore different options. He wanted to go on an actual Quest to get his Class. What if he asks for one? Has no one bothered to actually ask the NPC to give them a Quest instead of a test?  
  
It wouldn't hurt to try. He knew that most Players didn't really care enough about the NPCs to hold real conversations with them, barring a few of the more interesting ones. Plus, normal gamers just go with the 'accepted' dialogue options when talking to them. He'd seen patch notes on the game website about NPCs glitching when a Player took them too off script.  
  
But finding glitches was part of the fun for Mizuuma. Like sneak-killing a dungeon/quest boss before the cut scene. Then casting a Raise Dead spell on the corpse, expecting it to become a zombie but instead the body floats into the ceiling and disappears. That kind of shit is what she LIVED for.  
  
So, it was with these thoughts in mind that Mizuuma walked into a Potion shop and loudly declared "I want to be an Alchemist!"  
  
The NPC shop keeper peered at him skeptically. "Have you ever made a potion before?" He questioned.  
  
"Sorta!" Mizuuma said cheerfully.  
  
"Do you know what effect the different colored grasses produce when used as ingredients?"  
  
"Sorta!"  
  
"Do you even have the supplies needed? A cauldron? The flasks? The mortar and pestle?"  
  
"Sorta!"  
  
Mizuuma blinked in confusion as he was tossed out of the store and the door slams shut behind him. Did that just happen?  
  
\---  
  
He dove back into the library, reading everything he could find on the subject of Alchemy. Maybe he had to raise his Alchemy skill a little more first? Also, he should really start getting all the alchemy supplies together. He had the basic cauldron and plenty of Cooking supplies (cutting board, knives and his bag for ingredients) but if he really wanted to start brewing his own potions he needed more.  
  
Glass vials to put the potions in. That was a must. He could make do using his pots and pans for cooking the ingredients in various stages of the process before everything is mixed together into the cauldron but without the [Empty Glass Vial] items in his inventory the potion wouldn't be finished. The good news is that once the potion was in its final stage right before bottling, it was stable and the cauldron could be taken off heat and kept indefinitely until he got the required glass vials without losing any of it's potency.  
  
Theoretically he could buy multiple large cauldrons and just have a lot of pre-made potions ready and waiting to be 'finished' at a later date. Since the quantity of potions made was determined by cauldron size, he could buy different sized ones for the purpose of either making a bunch of Health potions to level up his skill and smaller ones for experimental purposes.  
  
This led back to his original problem.  
  
He didn't have the money for all this.  
  
"Uuugh~" Mizuuma groaned. Even though he'd received the Alchemy skill, he couldn't actually practice it unless he had the money to buy the supplies or found an Alchemist teacher so he could use their supplies. As the cross-player drops the alchemy book in frustration he suddenly got a brilliant idea.  
  
The kitchen he's working in had plenty of pots in all different sizes. Cooking pots were much cheaper than cauldrons. Also, he knew that the Inn would toss out older pots once their durability got low. He could ask Rodrich to see if he could have the pots before they were thrown out. If they were going to trash it anyway then he might as well see if he could get them.  
  
The low durability was a problem. Cauldrons were useful because they had incredibly high durability. Being subjected to high heats and corrosive substances wore down on the durability of an object. Cooking pots worked well for food but if Mizuuma tried to use it for alchemy it would wear down incredibly quickly.  
  
This would normally be a problem except...  
  
Mizuuma had a Repair skill. Sure he'd gotten it once his Tailoring skill leveled up but the skill description for Repair just states that it [Fixes and restores the durability of an object] so theoretically he could use it to simply fix the pots constantly. All it would cost was his MP to activate the Repair skill. First he would need to check if the Repair skill really worked on objects other than clothing.  
  
\---  
  
Success!  
  
Mizuuma had experimented with multiple types of objects. He brought down the durability of one of his knives by hitting it against a rock. The Repair skill fixed the knife and on a whim he used the skill on the rock as well and it worked. So that means he could really use old pots for this.  
  
He made a note to ask Rodrich about this later. In the meantime, he should check up for any simple alchemic recipes he could practice with. Healing potions were the most common so the recipes for it were easy enough to track down.  
  
The weird thing was that there were many different recipes. There were different ingredients that produce similar effects when combined with other things. Mizuuma took notes in his journal. The pages were theoretically infinite and the book itself was indestructible. He used up many pages by noting what ingredients went in which potions in the recipes he could find, cross-checking them together to see if there was any pattern for which ingredient did what and why that might be.  
  
Red grass has shown up in multiple recipes. Considering the [Red Grass] item on its own would heal 0.5% of heath upon consumption such a thing made sense. But after reading through several more books (managing to raise his INT by a few points) he found that Red grass also showed up in a few other potions. Paralysis and a couple poisons (which was fascinating).  
  
Mizuuma made a list of every ingredient he found in recipes, which recipes they were part of and tried to find some sort of correlation between what caused they to be part of which potions there were in. He was pleasantly surprised to find his Alchemy skill had gone up slightly just from his study and note taking. His Brew skill understandably, didn't go up at all.  
  
Well not for long!  
  
Mizuuma went out to a deserted area in the Beginner field a couple hours later, there were mainly just rabbits here so hopefully he wouldn't be bothered while he was working. Mizuuma pulled out his cutting board and a medium saucepan. He had to see if potion making would even work with cooking utensils. If it didn't work then he was back to square one, if it DID work then he'd discovered a wonderful exploit in the game.  
  
Much like the Sneak exp exploit he discovered.  
  
He gathered a bunch of dried grasses, sticks and stones together. He quickly made a little fire pit and carefully positioned one of his cooking pots on top. He pulled out his journal and flipped to the simplest recipe.  
  
**Minor Healing Potion**  
Ingredients  
-Red grass x5  
-Water  
Directions  
-Dry the red grass  
-Grind it into a powder  
-Boil the water  
-Add the powder while stirring clockwise  
-Continue stirring until the potion turns into a deep red color  
  
He pulled out the mortar and pestle he'd purchased earlier and began grinding up some Red grass. Drying them was easy. Just lay them out in the sun for a hour. He did that earlier by tying them to his clothes with some thread while he was foraging through the area for anything that looked interesting.  
  
Colored grasses, flowers, butterflies mushrooms...  
  
He had half the grasses arranged on his clothes to dry them out while the rest remained in his inventory due to a few recipes calling for non-dried grasses. Mizuuma was glad he could set up his GUI to display time. It was helpful for keeping track of this.  
  
As the fire heated the pot to boil, Mizuuma ground up the grass. She's ground up stuff in IRL when cooking with her mom. This was pretty much the same thing. Since the water still wasn't boiling yet, Mizu took that time to make sure the grass was a much finer powder. The thought being that it would dissolve into the water much quicker if it was more powdered.  
  
The pot was bubbling now. Mizuuma checked his journal again just to be sure. Ok. He held the bowl of powdered grass in one hand and pulled out a spatula with the other. Clockwise. Stir it.  
  
The powder dispersed into the water smoothly. He continued stirring it steadily, not to fast to splash and not too slowly so that the water remained in motion. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to look for in terms of color but after a few minutes he saw how the liquid suddenly shifted in hue towards a deep red. He stopped stirring and lifted the pot off the fire.  
  
The pot didn't lose much durability (only 2 points) but he used Repair on it anyway. MP recovered over time anyway and the skill didn't cost all that much. He put put the fire and checked on the pot.  
  
If it did the whole color change thing then it must mean it worked. He checked the item description.  
  
**[Large pot of Healing Elixir]**  
  
Sweet! It worked! He really could use cooking pots to brew potions! Yeeeeees!!!  
  
He put the entire pot back into his Inventory. The second he took it off the fire the [Pot] was no longer hot. It still amazed him that such a thing worked. Now that he had the (almost) complete potion, he just needed to find some way to bottle it...or something.  
  
Then again...  
  
The only reason people bottled potions was because it made them more useful on the field. The corked bottles wouldn’t spill until they were used. But theoretically he could just use a cup to get a dose of the Health Potion out of the pot.  
  
He'll need to check that later.  
  
For now Mizuuma was simply proud of himself for getting this to work. His Brewing skill also gained some experience. He had one small pot and one pan he could also use to brew some more. He hadn't even used the cauldron yet. Wanting to level up his brewing skill, the boy set to work with other simple recipes. There was a mana potion that just needed Blue Grass x5.  
  
\---  
  
He ran out of pots.  
  
There was a large saucepan full of Healing potion, a smaller lot with Mana potion, a cauldron full of a mild poison and a frying pan he used for experiments. Those were the only recipes he knew so far. The experimental one had unknown effects. Mizuuma poured it out into his waterskin (for a lack of anywhere else to put it) and stared at it suspiciously. He didn't want to risk killing himself if it ended up being poison.  
  
He would need to find a test subject...  
  
Mizuuma looked at the happy rabbits bouncing around and eating grass around him. Hm...  
  
If any other players were in the area, they would have seen a little boy running after some rabbit mobs and wrestling them down while screaming "DRINK IT! DRINK MY JUICES!!"  
  
\---  
  
It WAS poison. Something of the combination of ingredients seem to have made it toxic. Or perhaps a potion that didn't work for any normal effect simply ended up poisonous. He got EXP from the rabbit when it died. His Alchemy and Brewing skill went up too. He spent the rest of the afternoon making different combinations of ingredients and marking down what they did in his journal. The frying pan only made enough potion for 4 doses which he used on the poor rabbits.  
  
He'd discovered a few new recipes, a lot of them seemed quite similar.  
  
**[Beginner Poison]**  
-Green grass x5  
-Green grass x4, Clover leaf x1  
-Green grass x3, Clover leaf x1, Tulip bud x1  
-Green grass x2, Clover leaf x2, Tulip bud x1  
  
The list went on. It was a tedious process. He was only using the plants so far. Once he starts on animal ingredients like teeth or eyes it would get even more complicated. The only blessing here was that all Beginner level potions use 5 ingredients. Intermediate used 10, Expert was 20, Master was 35 and Grandmaster potions were 50 ingredients.  
  
No wonder no one wants to play as an Alchemist. That sounded...difficult.  
  
He DID accidentally create a few...explosive potions. Those were probably meant to be thrown at enemies. He discovered that the explosive potions had a different effect when he fed them to a rabbit. The first time It happened he assumed it was a Mana or Health potion since he didn't see any changes. He dropped the rabbit so he could brew a new experiment and had the shit scared out of him when the rabbit exploded upon landing on the ground.  
  
Took off 50HP from him too. Good thing he had the Blessing skill. It still hurt a lot.  
  
He quickly learned to throw the rabbits after each feeding just in case. He also managed to gather a lot of [Bone fragments] and [Rabbit Meat] drops. There was a lot of blood though. Eventually he just sat back and tried setting loose a Bomb Rabbit gently on the ground so it could run away. He wanted to see how much of an impact the rabbit would need to take to explode.  
  
Running and hopping didn't seem to set it off. Mizuuma leaned back against a tree and observed the rabbit. This was actually pretty peaceful. He noticed another player wander into the area. This place was out of the way from the main path from the City and didn't have anything except rabbits (which didn't give a lot of EXP) so not many players liked hunting here.  
  
Despite rabbits being the lowest level mob in terms of strength and level, the fact that they ran away from Players made them annoying to fight. Foxes and Raccoons might deal more damage to you but at least you didn't have to chase them down.  
  
So Mizuuma was surprised another Player had come all the way out here. The other Player didn't see him since he was behind a tree so Mizu watched them secretly.  
  
Ah. The player had take out a large ornate looking sword. He probably got a new weapon and wanted to test it out. With how pretty the sword was, perhaps he was worried about Thief players trying to steal it from him? It was a very fancy sword. That was what Mizuuma hypothesized as the reason this player had come out to this remote part of the beginner area.  
  
Mizuuma absently watched the Bomb Rabbit hop along peacefully and knew what was going to happen. Should he say anything? Should he stop the other player? Warn him? Too late. He winced when the other player swung his sword and hit the rabbit.  
  
It exploded in a shower of blood and guts.  
  
The absolutely horrified look on the guy's face was amazing. Mizuuma covered his mouth to muffle his laughter. He knew the blood would vanish after a few minutes from first-hand experience but the other player appeared to be panicking. The poor guy screamed and ran away. Once he was gone Mizuuma burst out laughing.  
  
"AHAHAHA! Oh my god! That look on his FACE!" He rolled around, kicking his feet as he laughed. That was AMAZING!  
  
Shit, how many more doses of the explosive stuff did he have? (Ingredients: Prickle Seed x2, Green Grass, Orange Mushroom and Carbon powder) He wanted to try making more random exploding mobs and setting them loose. The Trolling potential!  
  
Cackling evilly, Mizuuma caught and released a few more rabbits.  
  
He was kind of a bitch sometimes.  
  
\---  
  
After using up all of the Poison in the cauldron (he killed so many rabbits, chasing them down had raised his DEX a few points) he brewed a huge batch of explosive for the sole purpose of creating Bomb Rabbits (he needed a better name for them). There was no real reason, he just thought it was a hilarious thing to do. The fact that his Brew skill went up was just a bonus by this point.  
  
His Cooking skill went up due to using his Cooking supplies (the pots, knives and cutting board) and the game counted cutting up ingredients as a use of his cooking skill while the mortar and pestle counted as alchemy. Mizuuma felt he was confusing poor Pablo by switching out supplies and skills.  
  
"Well too bad Pablo! I'm gonna break you!" Mizuuma shook his fist at the sky. "This is what you get for not having Ramen!"  
  
He heard the distant sound of an explosion and panicked screams. He'd let loose the latest batch of BombBunnies ™ (he came up with the name himself) into the more populated Player areas. He giggled as the notification for EXP earned popped up. A few more rabbits and he'll level up. That would be fun.  
  
He held up his waterskin. Carefully. It already exploded once and he was barely able to fix it with [Repair]. He carefully checked the contents and figured there was enough left for one last dose. He looked around for a rabbit but realized he couldn't tell which ones were already bombs or not. That was a problem.  
  
Putting his waterskin away so it wouldn't jostle and explode while he moved, Mizuuma decided to catch a raccoon for the last one. He made a mental note to find some way to mark the explosive animals.  
  
\---  
  
When evening came and his shift at the Inn started, Mizuuma went around the tables in a very good mood. He got plenty of work done today, even if he wasn't any closer to GETTING the Alchemist class change. He was determined to try again tomorrow. Perhaps he needed to show that he knew how to make potions first? Like a resume?  
  
He should also ask Rodrich about buying the old pots they didn't need anymore. As he collected the plates from a table of Players he caught a bit of their conversation.  
  
"-eady alerted the Mods about this. Some people think it's a glitch. I think it might be part of some new event in the game. Some kind of secret boss maybe?"  
  
"Whatever it is, it's dangerous. I saw a newbie nearly die from one of those things. If it weren't for the Clerics nearby he might have actually died."  
  
"Everyone's staying away from the rabbits for now. I saw a fox attack a rabbit and they both died when it exploded."  
  
Mizuuma tensed up a little. They told the mods about this? He was suddenly a little worried that he might get found out and get in trouble. He prayed that there was no way they could track down his involvement in this. He really didn't want to get banned.  
  
Pretty much everyone was gossiping about the exploding rabbits. Some players thought it was a Monty Python joke. Some pointed out that not all of the rabbits were explosive. They commented on how it seemed to be random. For the time being they had sent out a public PM to all Players asking them to refrain from attacking a rabbit close up.  
  
Mizuuma was mildly tense during work, worried that the moderators would break down the door and arrest him at any moment. Nothing happened though and he tidied up the Inn for closing before going to cooking lessons with Rodrich. He got 3 large soup pots for free in exchange for Repairing the other pots. It was starting to get heavy in his inventory.  
  
_'I might have to start doing Quests for money. My general salary is just not high enough...'_  
  
He was also considering selling some origami sculptures. They were relatively easy to make and the western fantasy setting of the game ensured that there was no way an NPC would have ever seen origami before. Maybe he could sell them to an NPC merchant wholesale so he wouldn't have to spend time in the marketplace selling them himself? Which would be more cost effective?  
  
His Cooking skill leveled up and he added a new Recipe to his list. [Mutton Stew] which required 5 ingredients. Lamb meat, lamb bones, carrots, potatoes and water. Salt, pepper and other spices were added as Bonus ingredients to enhance the [Flavor] rating. Celery could also be added to raise [Appeal] and flour for [Volume]. Cooking recipes allowed for more freedom to mess around (since they only had a minimum required items for a dish and you could theoretically continue adding more ingredients until it starts to interfere with taste), unlike potions which needed exact amounts of stuff.  
  
Or did it?  
  
Mizuuma pondered while stirring the soup. They were making a pot of the stuff in preparation for tomorrow. Since stews take hours to finish cooking Rodrich made them over night. But potions! All the recipes he found needed an exact number of ingredients for the level of potion made. But was that set in stone?  
  
Using the Alchemy or Brew skill would used the parameters set up for Potion Creation. But he's already found that his Cooking skill sometimes got mistaken for his Alchemy preparation. So...could he theoretically used Cooking to make potions? Then he'd be able to add extra ingredients to the Beginner level potions to add extra [Effects] like how he does with cooking.  
  
He would have to test that out later.  
  
He had more cooking pots to use now. There were also plenty of rabbits to experiment on...so long as the moderators didn't find out and ban him for accidentally endangering other players.  
  
\---  
  
By some miracle, it seems the mods couldn't track him down as the one responsible for the exploding rabbits. Small miracles. The downside was that they had a bunch of programmers scoping out the area and checking through the rabbit mobs to see if there was some bug. Mizuuma saw them, Player avatars in pure white uniforms walking around while moving their hands in front of them as they messed with their GUI.  
  
It broke game immersion but if there really was some kind of bug or glitch they had to check on it as quickly as they could. While the AI that ran the game was pretty good at checking itself, they still needed a human eye for unusual data that it might not understand.  
  
Mizuuma decided not to mess with explosive potions today.  
  
Instead he set up his cauldron to make the Beginner Healing potion and charged nearby Players 10 silver per dose. He couldn't bottle them but he had cups for Players to fill and drink straight from the cauldron.  
  
He did the same with Mana potion in his largest pot.  
  
It was a stationary set up and it couldn't be used until after battle but he did get a few customers who found it pretty convenient to be able to refuel without having to wait for auto-recovery. The melee fighters were grateful for the 50HP heal per dose and the magic users liked the 50MP.  
  
Mizuuma took this time to experiment.  
  
He tried adding cinnamon to see if he could flavor the potions after the brewing process. Most potions didn't taste all that good, generally going from tasteless to bitter. He knew adding cinnamon as a potion ingredient messed up the potion and changed its effects (generally any mistakes in the brewing process just made poison he'd found) but if the potion was already finished, could he flavor it?  
  
He experimented with that in one pot while he tried putting 6 ingredients into another to try out his other idea. The [Add cinnamon to complete potion] seemed to work. He tested the mana potion and it worked. It also tasted mildly of cinnamon. It didn't really change the amount of MP it healed so there was no real effect aside from Flavor.  
  
The pot with Red Grass x6 on the other hand didn't work out. He got a Skill Failure notification and the liquid in the pot turned from red to a gross brown. Checking the item description showed that it was called [Failed Potion] and the effects were listed as ???  
  
"Ooh, messed up huh?" One Player said sympathetically as she purchased a dose of Healing potion from him. Mizuuma shrugged. "I was testing out something different. I guess it doesn't work."  
  
"Alchemy looks annoying. Don't you want to switch to a different class?"  
  
"I'm actually still Class-less. I'm trying to gain the Alchemist class."  
  
"Well good luck with that." The player dropped a gold coin and walked off. "Wait!" Mizuuna cried. "Don't you want your change?"  
  
"Keep it. Consider it a tip. Good luck with your alchemy."  
  
Mizuuma stowed the gold coin away and checked to see how much money he made today. He's got around 74 gold now. Ugh. This was going to take forever!  
  
Leveling up his skills made him feel a little better. At least he wasn't wasting his time here. His Brew skill reached Intermediate and his Alchemy hit level 4 which unlocked a new sub-skill Herbology.  
  
**Herbology (Beginner lv1 0%)**  
Identifying plants/fungi/insects/etc and their effects. Raises the effects produced from using plants. (Passive)  
  
How the heck does this work?  
  
Mizuuma picked up a Brown Mushroom from his ingredient pouch and saw a small display screen pop up.  
  
**[Small Brown Mushroom]**  
A simple mushroom generally found in the shade of a tree.  
-Edible, non-toxic  
Effects: Mana recovery, Stamina recovery, ???, ???  
  
He picked up some Red Grass.  
  
**[Basic Red Grass]**  
A commonly found grassy plant that grows all through temperate regions.  
-Edible, non-toxic  
Effects: Health recovery, ???, ???, ???  
  
Ok. So ingredients had 4 types of effects?  That was disappointing. It would limit a certain ingredient's usefulness. Does that mean he wouldn't be able to use Red Grasses for other effects beyond healing and the currently unknown ones? Or does the 4 effects only limit it's uses for proper potions?  
  
Could he use it for other potions that weren't meant for the same effects? More experiments were needed. This was going to take forever.  
  
But he CAN make flavored potions. That's cool.  
  
He got paid extra for those when the players tried a cinnamon flavored potion and found them quite delightful. He came out of that morning with a lot more money and less ingredients than he started with. He spent the afternoon leveling up his new Herbology skill by gathering any plant that showed up on his GUI. The Herbology skill was super useful for figuring out which things were ingredients or not.  
  
The [Ingredient Pouch] was like a mini-inventory with it's own vast space inside specifically for any item under the designation of [Ingredient]. This applied for both ingredients for Alchemy and Cooking. The two skills had a lot of overlap.  
  
Mizuuma stretched and groaned. Spending a whole afternoon gathering stuff was tedious but the large item stacks more than made up for it. Also, now that he's got a lot more Alchemical experience, perhaps he could ask the shop keeper about the Alchemist class again?  
  
\---  
  
"Hi! I want to be an Alchemist!" Mizuuma declared loudly as he beamed cheerfully at the NPC shopkeeper. The man blinked at him slowly.  
  
"Have you ever made a potion before?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Do you know what effects the different colored grasses have when used in potion making?"  
  
"Red is for healing and blue is for magic. Greens enhance poison, orange is for stamina and yellows are for paralysis. Purple is for a sleeping potion. Um...indigo was..." Mizuuma faltered. "...I actually haven't found any indigo, white, gray or black grasses yet so I don't know."  
  
The shop keeper nods. "Good enough. Do you have the supplies?"  
  
"I've got some basic ones."  
  
It was good enough apparently since the NPC hadn't thrown him out of the store this time. Instead he looked contemplative. "If you wish to be an Alchemist, why haven't you just gone to the Guild for your license?"  
  
"Because that's boring. I want a quest."  
  
The shop keeper raised an eyebrow. "A quest?"  
  
"Yup! I want to get my Class through an adventure! Not some stupid paper test." Mizuuma bounced in place.  
  
The man stared at Mizuuma for a while. "And why are you asking ME?"  
  
"Well as a shop that sells potions, you must get them from a supplier or make them yourself, so I just hoped you might have some insight into this."  
  
The man chuckles. "Well you're not wrong child. The name's Sethinel. I'm an Alchemist."  
  
"So how do I become an Alchemist?" Mizuuma asked eagerly. "Is there any epic quest I can go on to get the Class change?"  
  
"You're quite the excitable child aren't you? You think the guild is boring?" Sethinel grins. "I feel the same. They're a bunch of stuffy stuck ups."  
  
Sethinel gestures for Mizuuma to come behind the counter with him. "I want to see what you know so far. I don't know much about epic quests but I do know how to spot talent. If you're not worth my time to teach then I might as well find out now."  
  
"Like...an apprentice?"  
  
Sethinel shrugs. "I have the authority to grant licenses. I don't know if that's the sort of adventure you're seeking so I will consider other ways if you prove to be worthy of my attention."  
  
Mizuuma didn't mind too much. It would be cool to at least see what he could learn from a professional. He did have a thought and voices it out "So you're an Alchemist, but you don't like the guild?"  
  
"They have all these 'Rules' and 'Regulations' that limit what I want to do. It's stupid."  
  
Mizuuma gazed up at Sethinel in awe. "I like you already." If all goes well he could land himself a real Alchemy teacher! He secretly hoped Sethinel was like Izumi from FMA. That would be cool.  
  
\---  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the short chapter


	6. Chapter 6

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventure**  
  
**Chapter 6**  
  
\---  
  
Good news and bad news. Bad news, Sethinel was not like Izumi from FMA. Good news, he was still pretty cool.  
  
He mainly left Mizuuma to his own devices but when when the Player had a real question or problem Sethinel knew how to help. Even if he was too lazy to do so half the time.  
  
"A lot of alchemy is experimenting and learning on your own. I could give you recipes to follow but that's boring. I'd rather see if you can figure this out with just a few hints." He told Mizu.  
  
"Aren't you just using me to help restock your store's potions?" Mizuuma asked him with a deadpan expression. Sethinel shrugged. "I'm just being efficient. If you're gonna use my supplies to make potions I might as well make a profit off it. Besides, you're leveling up your Alchemy skill a lot faster since you're using my workshop."  
  
Mizuuma had nothing to say to that.  
  
Sethinel had strange teaching habits. Sometimes he assigned Mizu to create a specific potion and sometimes he would ask the boy to drink the unknown potions themselves. "But what if it's poison?" Mizuuma complained.  
  
"Well then you'll know for sure." Sethinel says nonchalantly.  
  
"Can't I just test them on animals?" Mizuuma grumbles.  
  
"Animal testing is all well and good but you wouldn't be able to know what it tastes like. If you want to make stuff people can drink you need to know what they taste like first."  
  
Well that kind of made sense? Although Mizu could flavor the potions somewhat with spices and seasoning, there was still an odd taste to a few of them that couldn't be masked. Sethinel showed him a little trick to potion brewing where an Alchemist could [Alter] a potion in the split second before it becomes complete by throwing in a last minute ingredient right before the [Brewing] animation ends. It had to be timed carefully.  
  
Too soon and the potion ended up with too many ingredients and you get a Skill failure. Too late and you would just be dumping ingredients on top of the finished potion like when Mizu added flavoring to them with the [Cooking] skill.  
  
But if you get it into the potion at the exact right time you end up with a potion with 2 different effects. Like a Healing potion with a hidden paralysis effect for example.  
  
Only the Alchemist who brewed it or someone with a high identification Skill would be able to tell it wasn't just a normal healing potion. Sethinel laughed maniacally and told Mizu that he liked messing with hidden effects and secretly sold such potions to the Thieves Guild through underground channels.  
  
"It's just as complicated as normal potion Brewing, since the extra ingredient needs to react with all the other ingredients to make the effect you want. Sometimes it does nothing. The ingredients don't go together and no extra effect is added. It requires a lot of guessing and checking."  
  
Mizuuma nods and writes this all down in his journal. The world of alchemy was a difficult path indeed.  
  
A few of his potions blew up in his face, literally.  
  
[](https://78.media.tumblr.com/ece1e495a20e83c414428ca83ae691d7/tumblr_p82tsy8fiA1x2rcv1o4_250.png)  
  
It certainly added a sense of caution to his Skill checks.  
  
He also poisoned himself plenty of times when drinking the potions he made. Thank Pablo for his Blessing spell. It ended up being a good way to level up a lot of his skills and although he didn't get any actual EXP to level up his character, the Skill EXP and random stat gains more than made up for it.  
  
His Toughness/Endurance Stat went up after he tried allowing the poison to take him down to 20HP before healing himself.  
  
**New Sub-Skill [Poison Resistence]**  
  
**Resist Poison  (Beginner Lv.1 0%)**  
It is more difficult to get Poisoned, Poison attacks do less damage, Passive skill  
  
That was good in terms of having a passive buff against the Poisoned condition but it would make it harder to level up the Skill if he COULDN'T get Poisoned. Mizuuma ended up purposly making and drinking Poisons he made just to level up this new sub-skill.  
  
He nearly died a few times.  
  
Sethinel called him crazy and then helped by giving Mizuuma more poison herbs to use. "Fascinating how you Foreigners are incapable of true death." The NPC noted. "It's almost unfair. You are all immortal and yet you do not give your lives to fight for us when war begins."  
  
"Just because we don't stay dead doesn't mean the process of dying isn't detrimental to us." Mizuuma grumbles as he healed himself again. "Plus, most people get scared of being in life or death situations even IF they know they're not gonna die for real."  
  
"Where are you people from? That you can have such miraculous powers?" Sethinel wondered. Mizuuma just shrugged. It wasn't exactly taboo to talk to an NPC about the real world or try to explain that they were all in a game, but it did tend to cause glitches and break immersion so most people didn't bother.  
  
Luckily Sethinel didn't ask about it anymore.  
  
Mizuuma learned a lot of interesting things about alchemy. He could marinate certain ingredients in sauces beforehand without changing their effects but it DID effect the taste. It was easier to flavor the potions this way. He also practiced putting in an extra effect. It was very difficult to get both the timing AND the correct ingredient for the effects he wanted.  
  
After getting it wrong once again, Mizuuma reached to grab some more Blue Grass only to realize they were out. "Augh~again?" He groans. Whenever he used up Sethinel's stock, his teacher would make him go out and gather more. It was tedious to roam the forest and grassland searching for herbs. "Why can't we just grow our own?" He muttered.  
  
Actually, that wasn't a half bad idea...  
  
Despite having no idea if such a thing was even implemented in the game, Mizu filled a potion bottle with soil and planted a Blue Grass into it after he had gone out to gather more. In the wild, they grew in little clumps and upon gathering it, there would only be a little stem left behind. The stem regrew the leaves after a set amount of tine so players could gather it again. Mizuuma didn't know if this would work, or if if might require some sort of Gardening skill in order to work but he may as well try.  
  
He set the plant to the side and cleaned up the workspace. He still had to go to work at the Inn. As Mizuuma cleared the lab and packed up his stuff, Sethinel came in and dropped a bag of coins in front of him. Mizu blinked. "What's this for?"  
  
"It's your cut of the profits. If I'm going to sell the potions that you made, you get 25% of the profits. Seeing as you're using my supplies and all, I felt that was an appropriate amount."  
  
"Oh~thanks Seth!" Mizu grinned as he took the bag and counted up the coins.  
  
Nice~he wasn't actually expecting to get paid at all so this was a nice surprise. 25% commission was still more than he got in her real job IRL so this was great. He had around 180 gold altogether by now. Only 320 more to go. It wasn't as daunting a task as it was before. Potions sold for a lot huh?  
  
Of course, the fact that he was using Seth's supplies meant he wasn't paying to buy the bottles so that meant he made a higher profit overall. It would not be the same once he has to get his own supplies. Still, this was a good way to earn money. Mizuuma mixed another batch of healing potions and considered what other way he could earn more.  
  
He still had a whole bunch of origami animals he had made. Would there be a merchant who would sell them for him? Mizu decided to look around the other shops after this. He took out a Crab he folded and looked at it. The fact that they were made from plain white paper was pretty dull. But there were no places that sold pretty patterned paper...was there?  
  
Frankly, with everything already on his to-do list, Mizu wasn't in the mood to add another. He'll sell the plain white origami for now and consider colors later. On a whim he added the [Paper Crab] into the potion as the secret 6th ingredient just to see what would happen. His success rate for getting the timing right was only around 70% but he was getting better.  
  
He succeeded this time and was curious what this did. Would it have some weird effect? Would it have no effect? It WAS just paper after all. It wasn't even an item classified as an ingredient so the fact that it still worked was weird. Perhaps because paper could dissolve in hot liquid? Was that why it worked?  
  
He bottled some of the potion and checked the item description.  
  
**[Minor Healing Potion*]**  
Heals the user for 50 HP  
*Imbued with essence of Crab  
  
What does that even mean?!  
  
Mizu pulled out one of his origami animals to look at it more carefully.  
  
**[Paper Cat]**  
Durability 1/1  
A paper sculpture imbued with the form and essence of a cat.  
  
Well at least it solved the question of how it was accepted as a Potion ingredient despite not being an Ingredient type item. The durability of 1 was used to classify consumable items. Not consume as in eaten but that the item could be used up. The paper had a durability of 1 because it was so delicate. Did that perhaps trick the system into thinking it was a consumable item?  
  
There might have been other reasons but Mizu didn't have enough information to really figure it out right now. Regardless, what did it mean by Essence of Crab? Or essence of cat? When he first made the origami animals he just thought they were given a poetic description. He groans at the potion in his hand. Only one way to really know.  
  
Just as Sethinel had taught him. The best way to learn what a potion did was to drink it. Mizuuma crossed his fingers and tipped the bottle back. It tasted mildly of grass, a flavoring from the Red Grass used in it's creation. There wasn't any seafood taste like Mizu was expecting so Essence of Crab did not mean flavor.  
  
**[You have healed 50 Health points]**  
  
**[Waterbreathing effect activated for 5 minutes]**  
  
Mizu stared incredulously at the timer in the corner of his vision that said Waterbreathing 4:58 which became 4:57 as he stared at it. The timer continued to count down as he stood there holding the empty vial in hand.  
  
What?!  
  
He looked at the cauldron full of apparently Waterbreathing potion in confusion.  
  
What?!  
  
\---  
  
Sethinel stared at the potion with a furrowed brow. "What?!"  
  
"That's exactly how I feel!" Mizuuma cried. "Seriously what?! This makes no sense!"  
  
"I've seen Waterbreathing potions before. I've MADE Waterbreathing potions before...but it usually needs ingredients from sea creatures..." Sethinel tilts the potion bottle around and inspects it. "And I've never seen the Waterbreathing effect as a hidden effect...generally because you normally need at LEAST two effect-type ingredients to get that result."  
  
He looks at the cauldron filled with the strange potion. "Getting an essence ingredient is quite rare. How did you do it?"  
  
"It's just paper!" Mizuuma takes out another Crab and hands it to his teacher. He inspects it and makes an impressed sound. "A sculpture. Of course."  
  
"Wait, you actually know how this happened?" Mizuuma asked.  
  
Sethinel nods. "Sculptures have power. They are naturally imbued with the essence or spirit of whatever their shape is. But sculptures are normally made out of things like wood or stone and cannot be used as an ingredient." He looks impressed. "Generally a sculpture will imbue people with it's effects when they look upon them. Your paper ones are simply too small and fragile to show their effects from just looking at them."  
  
"So you need to eat it to get their effects?" Mizuuma asked. Sethinel nods again. "Fascinating. A sculpture formed from thin paper. What an amazing idea."  
  
Well Mizuuma felt a little better knowing there was a method to the madness. He wanted to break the game, sure, but he liked knowing HOW he was doing it. Now he wonders what the other animals would do.  
  
"I can sell this batch of potions for a much higher price. A Healing potion of Waterbreathing. Fascinating. I will need to make labels for them..." Sethinel walks off muttering to himself.  
  
Mizuuma congratulated himself for discovering something new and immediately began writing this down in his Journal. Time to see what effects the other Essences gave.  
  
\---  
  
Essence of Cat gave Night vision.  
  
Essence of Rabbit or Deer gave an increase to Agility and jumping power.  
  
Essence of Bird granted a Feather Fall-like effect.  
  
All his aquatic origami (seahorses, sunfish, sharks etc.) all seemed to give Waterbreathing.  
  
Essence of Camel doubled your carrying weight for inventory.  
  
Oddly enough, Frog and Penguin increased swim speed which was just super weird.  
  
Mizuuma wasn't sure how Pablo decided what gave what effect but he liked testing them all out. Sethinal was amazed by this. "Paper animals! Brilliant!"  
  
Between the two of them, the alchemists made a bunch of special potions that were being sold at a very high price to the Thieves Guild. "I have a very good relation with their leader you see?" Sethinel told Mizu as they brewed another batch of Night Vision potions. "I provide them their potions and poisons, they get me rare ingredients that the Alchemy Guild considers...restricted goods."  
  
Mizuuma was pretty chill with the whole 'My alchemy teacher is consorting with criminals' thing. If it means they get more exotic ingredients to mess around with~  
  
"Can you teach me how to make these paper animals?" Sethinel asked one day. Mizuuma giggled. "It looks like the teacher has become the student~"  
  
The NPC rolled his eyes. "Is that a yes?"  
  
"Sure but you're not allowed to teach it to anyone else without my permission."  
  
Mizuuma discovered that anything done in the game using a real skill the Player had would have more unique and powerful effects than anything done using game Skills. Example, Mizu can hold a broken shirt and cast "Repair!" as a Skill and the shirt will magically mend itself. But if Mizu takes a needle and thread to manually fix the shirt, the resulting Item has slightly higher stats.  
  
In this way, his origami, created entirely without any in-game Skills or Spells, were assigned unique properties by the game engine. Mizu has also heard that people who use sword skills from IRL tend to have a higher chance of getting Crits. The central AI running Royal Road was one of the most powerful machines ever built. It was also constantly learning and evolving from the actions of the millions of Players in the game.  
  
"Pablo, you're really awesome you know that?" Mizuuma smiled at his GUI. "But I'm still gonna mess with you. I'm curious to see what you can do with what I give you." Mizuuma briefly wondered what would happen if Pablo grew intelligent enough to gain free will. "Also, you're a cool guy so please don't rise up against humanity or anything." He muttered nervously.  
  
He didn't know if the game engine heard him but he dismissed his screen and set to work messing with another random combination of ingredients to see what would happen.  
  
It was nice that he was leveling up his Brewing and Alchemy skills but he wasn't sure how he was meant to get a class change from just this. He was getting antsy and bored.  
  
Resist Poison reached Beginner Lv.4 and he got a notification. Apparently the constant Poisoning has unlocked the sub-skill Poison. It pretty much made it so he could absorb some of the poison afflicting him and store it in his body. Any enemy who tries to bite him will have a chance to get poisoned. He could also use his Poison skill as an active effect to transfer the poison inside him to an object he was touching. It was only a 0.1% chance of successfully poisoning someone currently but the success rate would go up as he levels up the skill.  
  
Mizuuma wasn't sure how to feel about his body being poisonous now. At least it meant any vampires he fights will get a nasty surprise. Mizu hoped it wouldn't effect his cooking though. That would be awful. Luckily, it didn't seem like the poison can be passed on that easily, unless he cut himself and bled into the food he should be fine. His Character profile now had a Toxicity bar which was currently at 0.2%.  
  
He drank a bunch of poisons just to see how much it rose. He also had to cast Blessing many times to keep himself from dying. Mizu realized that raising the Poison Resistance and Poison skills weren't something normal Players would manage since it cost too much money to buy the amount of poison needed. Plus, they would have to sit around drinking poison all day to level it up.  
  
As an Alchemist who was making the stuff, he got to drink as much as he wanted for free. Mizuuma was starting to get used to the sour bitter taste. It didn't stop him from messing with the Flavor though. What would happen if he mixed a potion into Alchohol? Now THAT was an experiment he could get behind.  
  
......could he use alchemy supplies to make Alcohol?  
  
When Mizu logged off the game that night she spent some time online looking up how to brew your own Alcohol. Okay~she'll need yeast. Specific kinds of yeast. Ugh~this was harder than she thought it would be.  
  
\---  
  
"Can I make rum with your supplies?" Mizuuma asked Sethinel as they settled in for another lesson. He stares at the cross-player and grins. "Only if you share."  
  
The two laugh together and Mizu couldn't helping thinking 'I have found my people!'. He explained his idea of making alcoholic potions or alcohol with potion effects. "Is there a way to do that?"  
  
Sethinel rubbed his chin. "It's not a bad idea. Ive heard of some people doing something kind of like it, making wine that gave special effects...but straight up potion effects? Now that would be interesting to experiment with."  
  
Mizuuma was building up the poison inside him. It started dealing damage over time once it passed 30% and he had to either cast Blessing constantly or use his Poison skill to use up the storage of poison inside him. It was annoying and he asked Sethinel about it. "Fascinating. You are absorbing the poison into yourself?"  
  
"Do you not have that?"  
  
"No. I have Poison Immunity and my body literally breaks down the proteins into something harmless. I'm guessing your Skill developed due to a specific set of circumstances caused by your skill set."  
  
"I do have a very odd skill set..." Mizu mumbled.  
  
He was able to lower his toxicity level by pouring all his body's poison into some potions. Once again, these more potent poison potions were sold to the thieves guild. "It's really useful to have connections with the Thieves guild huh?"  
  
"Yup. Would you like to come with me to my next sale?"  
  
"Yes please~" Mizuuma sparkled adorably. Connections? Yes. "Do we need to disguise ourselves?"  
  
"Yes. You'll receive a special pendant signalling what type of vendor you are and the color will decide your rank and importance. Since you are my apprentice, and you're quite the ingenious little alchemist, you'll get a decent rank despite being new. Just stick close to me and don't speak. Watch what I do and we can practice what you can and can't say once we get back here."  
  
Mizuuma nodded and put on the [Concealing Cloak] item than Sethinel handed him. It resized to his height upon equipment so luckily he didn't have to be worried about tripping over it.  
  
'Or maybe I still do?' Mizu grumbled at the long cloak. Even resized, it was still a cloak after all. He fumbled with the fabric for a bit. The hood of the cloak was made to always cover his face without blocking too much of his visibility so at least that shouldn't be a problem.  
  
Sethinel made Mizu swear an Oath of Secrets. This was some pretty illegal stuff happening after all. The only reason Sethinel even brought up the subject was due to the high relationship score Mizu had built with his teacher over the last few weeks.  
  
'With my salary at the Inn and the payment from my poisons and special effect potions...I should have 500 gold coins by the end of another week.' Mizuuma calculated carefully. That's just the cost of the cart though. He would still need to buy his own potion supplies AND get his Class change before he was even going to consider leaving the city to explore the rest of the world.  
  
Most players left the starting city once they had some decent equipment, traveling, killing mobs and exploring the vast world of Royal Road. Mizuuma's hikkikomori tendencies translated into the game as not wanting to leave the beginner city until he was ABSOLUTELY sure he had every thing he needed to sustain himself out in the wild. He was worried about his Inventory and wanted to be sure he wouldn't get robbed.  
  
Which makes him suddenly realize the irony of being so excited to become a Dealer for the Thieves Guild.  
  
'Well if I'm on their side...' He thought to himself. 'At least I can learn about thieves and their habits, could teach me how to avoid them.'  
  
He was still tallying out the costs for supplies in his head as he followed Sethinel through some alleyways in the dark. He was pointing out scratches and marks drawn on the walls and ground, explaining their meaning and how to decipher the codes.  
  
Mizu was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to remember all this but Sethinel assured him he didn't need to memorize everything on the first go. "Take your time to learn."  
  
After many twists and turns they arrived at a door. Sethinel motioned for Mizu to stay quiet and knocked on the door. A specific pattern of knocks. After a few seconds the door opened slightly and someone peered out at them. It was too dark to see but Sethinel lifted up his pendant and the person behind the door snorted. "Good ta see ya again Gift."  
  
The door opened a little more but the gruff voice asks "Who's the shrimp?"  
  
Mizu pouted but kept quiet. Sethinel chuckles. "This here's my apprentice. Brilliant kid. You know the new stock I brought in last week? This kid right here."  
  
The man behind the door made an impressed sound. "It'll be a pleasure doing business with you kid."  
  
Mizu nods without saying anything. The man lets them inside and he hears Sethinel asking about getting his apprentice his own identity pendant for whenever they want to sell their wares. The doorman nods and the two discuss the cost and designs. Mizuuma was taking this time to look around.  
  
The building seemed like a regular shop selling rusted equipment. Not a place people would generally go to. He stared in wonder as the doorman moved some furniture and pulled open a hidden door. Sethinel motions for him to follow and the two ducked through the passageway.  
  
A bit more walking down a slope had the tunnel open up to a large cavernous area that was bustling with people. Mizuuna didn't realize there was a place like this under the city. There were vendors selling all sort of rare and illegal looking things. Mizuuma saw a booth with dead animals preserved in jars and wandered closer before Sethinel grabbed his arm and whispered "Later. We have a job to do right now."  
  
Mizu nodded and waved good bye sadly to the booth as Sethinel pulled him along through the crowd. His teacher seemed to be looking for someone. Finally he finds a large muscular woman with scars. She lights up when she sees Sethinel's pendant. "Gift! Wasn't expecting to see you again so soon! We already have plenty of poison and healing potions."  
  
"I know. I simply had to bring my apprentice here. Show him the ropes you see?" Sethinel laughs as he clasps his forearm with hers in a shake. "Also, my cute little apprentice has recently discovered an amazing breakthrough."  
  
The woman turned her gaze to the tiny cloaked figure. "That kid? Impressive. For you to praise someone, they must be someone special."  
  
Sethinel brings out one of Mizu's Essence potions. The two had made batches of the useful ones (Waterbreathing, Featherfall and Night Vision) in preparation for this. He hold up the Nightvision potion for her to see. "My apprentice created this and a few others by inventing a new method of potion creation."  
  
The woman takes the potion and examines it. "It is just a basic health potion." She frowns. Sethinel grins. "Drink it and see."  
  
Since it was just a health potion, she didn't see any harm in it. The woman tips it back and drank. After a few seconds her eyes went wide in awe. "A healing potion with a Night Vision effect?" She gasps. Her eyes were a little more reflective looking, like a cat's. She gazed around the dark marketplace. "I can see clearly!"  
  
Mizuuma grinned smugly. Why yes he WAS amazing for (accidentally) discovering this.  
  
The woman stares at Mizuuma, impressed. "I see why you wish to get your apprentice their own vendor-mark." She grins "We'll need to make him a pendant and a code name."  
  
Sethinel nods. "May we go somewhere more private for this? You know how strongly I feel about confidentiality."  
  
"No worries Gift. You have been a great partner with us for many years. Come, let us go to my office."  
  
The group of three set off, the woman barking orders to the people around them. Mizu wondered if she was the Leader of the Thief Guild. With the respect the other criminals showed her, he was leaning towards a Yes.  
  
\---  
  
The door closed behind them as they entered a surprisingly nice room with thick stone walls and a large table covered in papers. They appeared to be forged documents, ledgers and letters. Once the door was closed, Sethinel sighed in relief. "Apprentice, you may speak now. But no utterance of our real names."  
  
Mizu nodded. "So I get a cool nickname too?" He asks.  
  
The woman laughs. "Quite the eager child your apprentice is."  
  
"I'm not a kid!" Mizu pouted. The woman laughed again. "Well, for introductions, everyone calls me Boss." She sits in her table and looks down at the cross-player. "What do you want to be called?"  
  
Mizuuma considers it. His master's code name was Gift. It could mean a present, since his master was bringing nice 'gifts' to the Thief Guild. Or it could be due to the fact that Gift means Poison in German. Mizuuma enjoyed this pun. Could he get something like it?  
  
He went through different words for poison but then had a brilliant idea. He was planning to see if he could make alcoholic poison after all...so why not go with...  
  
"Toxicate?" He asked. Like Intoxicate or Toxic? It wasn't a very clever pun but it sounded cool and edgy. He frowned. "No, that's too weird right?" Boss was laughing again, snorting into her hands with mirth.  
  
Sethinel was chuckling as well. "Are you trying to sound more intimidating?"  
  
Mizu pouted harder. "What if I am?" He crossed his arms and huffed. What's the use of being the fantasy equivalent of a drug dealer when no one thinks he's threatening?  
  
"Child, you are adorable." Boss laughed. She hummed in thought "Gift says you are quite the talented little alchemist. I have also seen first hand a wondrous potion you have made." She runs a finger along the sides of her eyes. "What about Gnosis?"  
  
Greek for knowledge?  
  
That actually sounded super cool.  
  
Even with the cloak covering his face, everyone could tell Mizuuma's eyes were practically twinkling in delight. "Yes~" he squeals excitedly. Boss smiles and writes down something. "Gnosis, Alchemist potion dealer...rank..." She pauses.  
  
"I know he is your apprentice...but can he be trusted to keep the vow of silence? Confidentiality?" She asks Sethinel. "We don't take kindly to traitors and snitches."  
  
"I don't sell people out." Mizuuma protested. Sethinel placed a hand on his shoulder and the boy quieted. "I have brought him here because I believe he is talented and creative. If he had access to more...exotic ingredients, I am certain he could do great things. He is a delight to teach and I trust him."  
  
Mizuuma felt touched at his master's faith in him. He glances at the leader of the Thieves Guild as she sighs. "Well, if you trust him then I will trust your judgement. Here's hoping my trust is not misplaced."  
  
She marked something down on the paper and rolled it up. "We can discuss the prices for those new potions your apprentice has made. I will have his identifier crafted by our finest smiths." She peers down at Mizuuma. "Gift has vouched for you. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what would happen if you betray this trust."  
  
Mizu scoffs. "Don't worry. I ain't a snitch."  
  
Boss grins crookedly. "For your sake, I sure hope so."  
  
Mizu got 50 gold from this sale. Vow of silence not withstanding, the payment was enough to make Mizu want to keep his relationship with the Thieves Guild friendly. That and all the suspicious rogues sharpening their weapons everywhere.  
  
They may be thieves and criminals but they still had an honor code not to sell each other out.  
  
This would be the first of many dealings Mizuuma would be making with the Thieves Guild in both this city and others.  
  
\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The road-block I'm having to writing this is trying to find a way to get a Super Special Class without it feeling too much like a convenient cope out. I'm already make the MC a little, overpowered isn't the word here, overly special?
> 
> But I have been trying to make his/her stat and skill gains be a direct result of weird things he does in game. If anyone out there has read Legendary Moonlight Sculpture you'll know that game has some really interesting Skill creation mechanics. So I've been able to justify things (to myself at least) about what he's learned and stuff.
> 
> The Origami stuff still feels a little too overpowered but considering Canon does state that Sculptures contain plenty of special effects, it would make sense for the game's content generation AI (whom I've named Pablo) to grant unique items like Origami animals some special effects. We've seen in the actual Novel that the game AI seems to favor the people who bring something unique into the game as a result of their personal IRL skills.
> 
> Anyway, that was my rant. Am still debating how to let Mizuuma gain a super special unique class. Because he is not the type to back down from getting one. Even if remaining Class-less is going to negatively impact their Skill creation.


	7. Chapter 7

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventure**

**Chapter 7**

\---

He was only 100 gold away from being able to afford the Enclosed Cart (with security features and he could upgrade it with built in crafting stations later!) It would still cost more gold to get all the features he wanted though. 500 gold for a small covered Cart with security settings. An extra 100 gold to make it larger on the inside to become a mobile home. Another 100 gold to get bedroom and kitchen areas installed. Yet another 100 gold for getting the crafting station installed.

A covered wagon like from the old days...except the inside was a subspace mobile home. 800 gold? 900 if he wanted more security settings. If this was gonna be his house and lab he would need the fire-proofing.

So close and yet so far...

Mizu sighed as he closed his GUI. He had around 400 gold now and would need to double that to get the upgrades. Maybe he shouldn't be so ambitious and just get the 500 gold cart first, leave on his adventures and get the 100 gold for upgrades over time? Heck, he really only need the Cart/Wagon for the extra inventory space anyway.

While lost in thought, his hands move on their own, muscle memory formed from repeated movements. He skinned the rabbit mob that had been dosed with a Paralysis potion. Paralysis was amazing. It kept the victim from struggling so he could take his time with carefully cutting it open to work on his Dissect skill. If he cast Blessing on the rabbit he could even heal it enough to keep it from dying as he carefully harvested the flesh, bones and organs, cutting them out of the poor twitching rabbit and stowing away these item drops.

It was horrifying but it was the fastest way to level up his Dissect skill. At least the paralysis potion numbed the pain. He also sang the rabbit to sleep with a lullaby to ensure it wouldn't suffer. He leveled up a lot of his Skills in the past several weeks.

**Skills**

**Singing** (Intermediate Lv.4 22%)  
-Subskill-  
**Lyrics** (Max Lv.)

 **Bare-hand Fighting** (Intermediate Lv.6 12%)  
-Subskills-  
**Bone Breaker** (Beginner Lv.8 10%)  
**Shredding Claws** (Beginner Lv.4 74%)

 **Acrobatics** (Intermediate Lv.6 34%)  
-Subskill-  
**Dodge** (Beginner Lv.5 12%)

 **Tailoring** (Intermediate Lv.3 67%)  
-Subskill-  
**Precision** (Max Lv.)

 **Drawing** (Beginner Lv.7 40%)  
-Subskill-  
**Mapping** (Max Lv.)

 **Repair** (Intermediate Lv.6 69%)

 **Cooking** (Intermediate Lv.4 61%)  
-Subskill-  
**Recipes** (Max Lv.)

 **Healer** (Intermediate Lv.1 52%)  
-Subskill-  
**Blessing** (Intermediate Lv.2 72%)

 **Sneak** (Beginner Lv.7 58%)

 **Alchemy** (Intermediate Lv.1 17%)  
-Subskills-  
**Brew** (Intermediate Lv.6 50%)  
**Dissect** (Beginner Lv.6 36%)  
**Herbology** (Beginner Lv.9 37%)  
**Resist Poison**  (Intermediate Lv.1 35%)  
     **Poison** (Beginner Lv.7 5%)

Wow...his skill list was kind of a mess.

Alchemy had the most subskills but that's because he was going out of his way to make them. He wondered if he should focus on his other Skills for a while. He finally glanced back down at the mess of blood that used to be a rabbit and allowed its HP to fall to 0. There was the quiet victory sound and he received some EXP but that wasn't as important as the items that dropped.

Or rather, not dropped.

**[System Error]**

**[Rabbit] already harvested of all possible item drops. Item generation not possible.**

All mobs had a max amount of possible items that can drop and generally only dropped one or two of these items. There were some skills that allowed Players to get more but those were usually Skills from the Thief skill tree and didn't involve LITERALLY stripping a mob of everything it had, skin, bones and meat, so Mizuuma had accidentally caused a glitch.

'Oh fffff-' Mizu thought before backpedaling away from the glowing rabbit. The words System Error kept flashing and he turned to run before the mods got here. As he thought, the area was placed under quarantine not even 5 minutes later.

Mizuuma apologized quietly to Pablo.

\---

Christo sighed. "Mizuuma, why are you under the table?"

"I'm hiding from the law. They'll never look for me here." Mizu mumbled as he crouched under the table with his legs drawn up to his chest. He couldn't go to Seth's shop since his master was out on a business trip. His pendant from the Thieves Guild was completed yesterday and he was wearing it under his shirt.

Sethinel told him that since he has his own identification now, he was free to enter the Thieves Guild on his own. He had to learn how anyway. Mizuuma thought Sethinel was making his poor apprentice do all the work so he could go prancing off on a vacation.

He could still use Sethinel's lab but the shop was closed. So, he decided to hide in the library instead. Christo chuckled at his antics and brought him a plate of sandwiches that he put on the chair beside the table. Mizu thanked him and nibbled on the food while he waited for the heat to die down.

He had a forum page opened to the side of his vision and winced at the notice being sent out about a System Error and that Players were urged to stay out of the area until it could be resolved. He apologized to Pablo again. "I really need to stop breaking the game..." He sighed into his knees.

Getting bored, Mizu closed the screen and leaned back against the table leg. He tugged his pendant out of his shirt to examine it more closely. It was very nicely crafted. An intricate pattern of plants in a circular pendant with the word Gnosis carved into it. Sethinel explained the ranks were by the material of the pendant.

Aluminium was the lowest rank followed by Brass, Bronze, Copper, Pewter, Silver, Gold, Electrum and Platinum.

He got a pewter pendant. Small in size, around the length of his thumb. Despite being a newbie, he was a mid-ranked member due to the usefulness of his wares. Sethinel was an Electrum rank. Mizu traced the edges of the pendant and sighed.

He hoped the mods fixed the problem soon. He really didn't mean to break Pablo. He liked glitches and bugs but hearing the System Error ring out was kind of scary. Mizu put the pendant back under his shirt. Well. Was there any skill he could work on while hiding in the library?

Sneak!

He muffled a giggle by shoving the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. Placing the now empty plate on top of the table, Mizu began waddling around the library, low to the ground and trying to stay out of view. The lack of people made it difficult to gain much exp in that Skill but he had fun anyway.

Christo clearly noticed him a few times and simply gave the Player an exasperated look. "Must you?" He sighs. Mizu giggled and ducked under another table. The librarian rolled his eyes at Mizuuma's antics but since there weren't many people here and Mizu wasn't technically bothering anyone, he left it alone. Mizu began using Christo to train his Sneak, purposely following the NPC as he made his rounds of the shelves.

It was fun and Mizu had to hold back his urge to hum the Mission Impossible theme. 'Bad Mizu! That would defeat the purpose of stealth!' He nodded to himself. Stealth=Quiet so he probably shouldn't sing while he does so....maybe beforehand he could sing something that increases Stealth and THEN go into Sneak mode?

He was nearly caught by Christo a few times but his Perception stat was currently at 10 and while it wasn't high enough to do much, it DID give him a small sensation of movement around him. He could sense that Christo was coming closer and thus ducked under another table.

Raising Stats were much harder than Skills. While Skills had an EXP bar that filled as you did things with that Skill, there was no indication with Stats. They simply went up when you completed some hidden practice with it. Rolling around and dodging attacks raised his Agility and tanking hits from enemies raised his Toughness but there was no EXP bar to show when he had done enough for the Stat to increase. Aside from purposely working himself to the bone to raise a Stat, Players normally increased their stats when they leveled up. You got 5 Stat points upon level up which you can distribute to whichever Stat you want (barring the special Stats like Killing Intent or Art which can only be raised by actually intimidating people or making art).

Mizu really wanted to raise his Perception Stat. It would be super helpful if he could sense danger or movement around him. He settled under a table with the chairs pulled in to hide him from view and closed his eyes. He breathed quietly and tried to find out where Christo was just by using his other senses.

He could hear faint footsteps and the swish of robes. He could hear the wheeled cart when the books on it were pulled out and the sliding noise of books being slide back onto the shelves. He tried very hard to picture Christo's location in relation to himself as he sat under the table. The wheels squeaked a little as Christo turns down another aisle. How far away was he?

Mizu's brows creased in concentration. He remained under the table trying figure out where Christo was at all times. His Stat hadn't gone up so it probably took more work than this. Or he hadn't been doing it long enough. Regardless, he did manage to level up a bit of Stealth. It didn't go up as quickly when no one was actively looking for him.

It quickly became a test of patience vs boredom. He wiggled in place, wanting to stretch his legs. You couldn't get cramps in the game but it was still uncomfortable to sit so still for so long. He told himself he wouldn't leave until he got at LEAST one point in Perception. He heard Christo make another turn and tried to imagine it. He pictured Christo in his head, one hand on the cart piled high with books, the other hand trailing a finger along the shelf beside him as he searched for the proper spot for a book.

He heard the sliding sound of a book being taken off the pile and pictured Christo holding it, now he was going to move some books aside and slide that book in with its brethren. Mizu heard the slide and thunk sound as the book was placed back on the shelf.

**Perception +1**

"Yes!" Mizu cheered before yelping in pain as his excited jump made him knock against the bottom of the table. "Ow...." He hissed, rubbing his head.

"Are you alright? Maybe you should stop playing here now." Christo's footsteps came closer and Mizu felt one of the chairs being pulled out. "I'm sure there are plenty of better ways you could spend your time."

"Fine~" Mizu crawled out and stretched. His body may not be actually cramped but the system played the 'popping spine' sound effect anyway as he arched his back. Ooh~even virtually, that felt good. He bid Christo farewell and headed back out.

His paranoia about being found by the mods as being the cause of the glitch earlier made him scale the nearest building and sneak his way through the city. To his delight, Sneak hit Beginner Lv.8 and he got a system message.

**Sub-Skill: Conceal Presence has been created.**

**Conceal Presence (Beginner Lv.1 0%)**  
Lowers chance of being found while hiding. Higher levels can allow one to hide in plain sight. Passive skill.

Nice~

Since he was barred from creating any major Skills while he was Class-less, he might as well try to make as many Sub-Skills as he could. He ducked behind a ledge to try and gain EXP for Conceal Presence but it seemed he needed people to be actively looking for him to kick start the process. Mizu pouted as he wondered how to do this.

Oh.

He had a - ~~terrible~~ \- wonderful idea!

He opened his Inventory to pull out a small pile of [Bone Fragments] and grinned to himself. Peeking over the ledge of the roof he was on, Mizu looked around for a good target...OH!

He took aim at a large warrior in heavy armor (bigger target) and threw a bone shard at him. Immediately after throwing, Mizu ducked out of sight. He wasn't sure if he hit and waited a bit. Nothing happened. He probably missed. Mizu peeked up and threw another bone shard at the warrior. This time he definitely hit because he heard the man yelp in surprise.

Mizu quickly hid himself, muffling a giggle as he watched the EXP bar for both Sneak and Conceal Presence fill up. Once they stopped (signalling that the person had stopped looking for him) Mizu peeked over the roof and threw another bone. This time the warrior made an angry sound. "Who threw that?!"

Mizu hid out of sight and covered his mouth to keep from laughing. This was fun. Once the warrior stopped looking for him, Mizuuma carefully went to another rooftop so all his throws weren't coming from the same place and tossed another bone fragment. The warrior growls angrily.

It was supposed to be some innocent trolling. Just something annoying that didn't hurt anyone, he wasn't throwing the bones hard enough to cause damage and the fragments themselves were small (like the size of a fingernail) enough that they were hard to see and wouldn't hurt anyone.

He hadn't thought of how the Warrior would feel.That feeling being Pissed."It was YOU wasn't it?!" The man yells at a Mage Player nearby. The innocent Player seemed confused and a little terrified. That Warrior Player probably had a high Killing Intent stat. The Mage's party members stepped up to defend their friend. "Dude, back off. He didn't do anything!"

"Someone keeps throwing s*** at me!" The warrior points to the slingshot and bag of pebbles (a projectile type ammunition generally used by Players to lure in mobs by drawing agro from afar, they don't do much damage but unlike Arrows they didn't cost money to buy, since they were just small rocks any Player can farm off the ground) on the Mage's waist. "And I bet it's him!"

"What?! Why the f*** would I waste my time bothering you?!" The Mage says in annoyance. More Players were beginning to gather around to watch the confrontation.The warrior was clearly too angry to think straight. His eyes darted around and landed on one of the Mage's party members, a Thief class (she certainly LOOKED the part with her face concealing hood and bottles of poisons on her belt) and snarls. "I see now! You were trying to distract me so your THIEF friend can steal from me!!"

"Excuse me?! That is Classist and rude! Why the hell would we do something like that in broad daylight?!" The Thief cries in an offended tone. It was a big issue with the Players who went into the Rogue classes, other Players and NPCs tend to treat them with suspicion.The warrior wasn't in the mood to be reasonable. "You probably saw my nice equipment and figured I'd be a good mark! I should report you f***ing thieves!!!"

"What the heck is wrong with you?! We just said that we want NOTHING to do with you!!"

The argument was getting more and more heated. Mizu cowered behind the ledge with a mantra of 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' Going through his head as more shouting happened.

He didn't see who threw the first hit since he was behind the ledge but he did hear the fight as it began. The cross-player peeked over the ledge and winced at the absolute pandemonium happening in the town square. Players were shouting, punching each other, shoving people into other people and more people were dragged into the fight.It was pure chaos down there.

Mizuuma apologized once more to the game and all the Players therein.

\---

"You're back?" Christo asks as he spots the boy huddled under a table. When did he come back in? Christo didn't remember seeing or hearing the child return.

"Mmmph." Mizuuma mumbled, hiding his face in his knees.

"Well I suppose it's good that you're in here. I heard there is quite a scuffle happening outside. The guards were even dispatched to interfere and stop the fighting." Christo says.

Mizuuma shuffles deeper into a ball and moans quietly. He was so glad the [Bone Fragments] were a single use item that disappeared once they hit a target or were consumed as ingredients. He would would hate for anyone to find out he was involved in that mess.

\---

A lot of Players ended up with a few hour ban, their avatars arrested and placed in jail cells for the duration of their punishment. Many angry Players swore to find whoever had started this mess. Which Player had harassed that Warrior and caused this whole fight to begin with.

Vengeance was sworn that day to discover the culprit. This single minded determination to find the Troll resulted in an increase of Players switching to the Investigator or Detective Class. But that is a story for another time.

\---

"Turn right at the symbol that looks like a Dolphin vomiting bowling pins...

"Mizuuma was attempting to make his way to the Thieves Guild on his own after getting off work at the Inn. It was a good night, he reached Cooking Intermediate Lv.5 and gained two new Sub-Skills. Preserve and Freshen. Preserve was essentially a Skill to transform food items into something else. He could turn peaches into peach jam (he could also do it manually with the Cooking skill but using the Preserve skill was much faster, instead of boiling the peaches in sugar for a few hours he simply inputs peaches and sugar along with a [Container] item to produce the finished product. Freshen was like a Repair Skill but used with edibles instead of objects. You couldn't Repair a [Rotten Tomato] but you could use Freshen to transform it into a [Tomato] item.

  
The Preserve skill could also be used to extend the shelf life of certain ingredients. It was great since Mizuuma was getting sick of having to dump out the [Rotten Flesh] that the organs and ofals he Dissected out of Rabbits kept turning into over time. Mizuuma shook his head, focus! He has to get to the Guild by himself tonight.  
  
It shouldn't have been hard seeing as he had gone with Sethinel a couple times already. Of course, he was kicking himself for being an idiot when he realized he could have just used his GODDAMED Mapping Skill for this.

It's not like he doesn't know how to map stuff. He's been playing the Etrian Odyssey games since they first came out. Sethinel DID say that making a map was dangerous to the secrecy of the Guild but Mizuuma got around that by drawing the map inside his Alchemical Journal. A special item bound to his character which cannot be lost, destroyed or stolen.

This was because Alchemy was such a complicated Skill that the game provided any Player willing to pursue it an in-game item that was essentially a personal cheat sheet. After all, much like the Recipes Skill, it was merely a place for Players to save down information they've learned so they could look it up quickly. No one wanted to tab out to another window to look up a recipe guide for food or potions while they were playing.

It broke immersion and the game found a workaround by giving the Cooking Skill a sub skill of Recipe which can be activated to summon a cookbook that automatically fills in with any recipe the Player learns. The Alchemy skill on the other hand, rewards the Player with a Journal so they can write their own notes down. Since the Alchemy Skill was meant for Players to experiment on their own, the Developers thought that making it a journal-item instead of a Sub-Skill seemed more appropriate.

Also, during the Beta, the testers found that having to hold up a book while cooking was annoying so they changed the [Cookbook] item into a Recipe Skill that created an image overlay in the Player's vision of the recipe they wanted, which could be edited via voice or mental commands if Players wished to add notes or addendums to a preexisting entry.

As for the Alchemy Journal, the testers thought it was fun and immersive to be able to write in a journal, much like the Wizard Class's Spellbook item. A Wizard's Spellbook was much like an Alchemist's Journal in that it was a special item that cannot be destroyed, stolen or lost.

Of course, Mizuuma neither knew or cared about this aspect of Game Development lore and was simply abusing the privacy of his Journal to draw out a map that could never be stolen. He was slowly figuring out every different path that existed, all the secret symbols (along with the meanings) and where all the safe houses were.

It was tedious and he got horribly lost in the back alleys of the city multiple times. Good news is the map was coming along well. He marked down another split in the road and a tunnel off to the side of the path. The area LOOKED familiar.

He adjusted the large pack on his back. Sethinel told him to deliver this week's shipment of potions to the guild and Mizuuma was worried about making the trip on his own. He didn't want to mess this up.He had been trying his best to Sneak this whole time. Aside from wanting to raise the Skill, he was a little frightened of running into muggers. If they robbed him of the many potions he had, he would get in a lot of trouble. He fingered the pair of scissors on his belt. He also had a few of the explosion potions so if worse came to worse he could throw one at his attacker and escape to the rooftop.

His climbing was getting really good. The Acrobatics Skill apparently made it so he could grip ledges and walls a lot easier and by this point he could easily scale the walls of the city and make his way along the rooftops.

'I'm like Batman except I don't fight crime...or do anything else like Batman.'

Ok, so he wasn't very much like Batman at all. Mizuuma pouted sadly. Could he make a Batman class or is that too weird for the system to recognize? What would a Batman class even entail?  
  
He heard footsteps and rushed up the side of the building to hide before he realized it. Paranoia had him reacting faster than conscious thought. The cross player huddled behind a ledge and listened. The footsteps sounded heavy, and there were multiple as well. He carefully peeked over the edge, his Cloak of Identity Concealment was amazingly easy to move around in despite it's full body coverage (though to be fair, it was made for Thieves in mind) and it didn't tangle as he climbed the stone wall.  
  
There was a group of soldiers clinking heavily as they came down the narrow alleyway. Mizuuma frowned. What were soldiers doing here? So far from the main roads? He crept along the rooftops following them to try and see what was happening. Unfortunately they weren't speaking to each other. Likely they had already been briefed about their mission and wouldn't be randomly talking about it within earshot of someone trying to eavesdrop upon them.  
  
So Mizuuma continued following them quietly and trying to not get caught. He was too curious to simply let this go. Climbing quietly was harder than just running around for fun and every little noise he made was enough to make him flinch. His heart was pounding hard in his chest and Mizu thanked Pablo that the heavy clanking of the soldier's armor drowned out any missteps he made.  
  
But why were they here? He winced when he saw them kick down a door to a little shop that sold cursed jewelry. He remembered passing that shop when he was going down these streets with Sethinel. There was a pretty necklace on display which Sethinel said caused the wearer’s hair to fall out. Upsetting but it got him the idea to try for a Hair growth potion so Mizu remembered that shop well.  
  
He shivered at the loud yelling as the soldiers stormed the shop. He found out why they were here. It was a raid. He saw the soldiers drag out the owner, a haggard old Wizard. He saw one soldier who appeared to be a commanding officer, tear open the Wizard’s robe to reveal a pendant. The aspiring alchemist clutched his own in realization.  
  
The commander inspected the pendant closely. “Bronze.” He sneered, dropping the chain and straightening up. “Take him away. And confiscate everything in the shop!”  
  
“Yes sir!”  
  
Mizu watched worriedly as they dragged the protesting Wizard away. “What is going on?! Unhand me you brutes!”  
  
One of the soldiers slapped him. “Shut up! You are under suspicion of association with the Thieves Guild. As such all your property will be seized. If your trial proves you not guilty they will be returned.”  
  
“This is unjust! You don't even have a warrant!” the Wizard screeches as he struggles. His hands glow as he prepares for a spell but another soldier slaps him to break concentration. One of the downsides of the Wizard class was their (relatively) slow cast time, it was balanced out by their larger Mana bar, faster passive mana regeneration and more powerful spells.  
  
Mizuuma bit his lip. Should he help? He didn't want to get arrested as well but there's no way he'd be able to take on so many soldiers. He quickly looked through his bag of potions. These were for sale at the Guild but this might be more important. But what could he use to help?  
  
His mind raced as he considered his options. The soldiers were dragging the Wizard away, the group was splitting up. That might be enough. Mizu took out the potions he needed and wound his arm back. Aim don't fail him now!  
  
He lobbed a pair of potions into the shop and immediately threw another set at the soldiers marching away. “RUN COWARD!” He screamed, distorting his voice to sound cartoonishly scratchy as he threw a couple more potions and then booked it out of there as fast as he could, leaping over the rooftops and heading towards what he knew was a hidden passage between two run down shops.  
  
He was several rooftops away when he heard the explosions go off. There was a noxious plume of gas in the area where the soldiers had dragged the Wizard, a Poison potion going off along with the Explosive one. The inside of the shop however, had the crackling yellow smoke of an exploded Paralysis potion. It was a gamble, Mizu didn't know for sure what would happen if he combined potions together but this was the only thing he could think of.  
  
He only glanced back once to see the colored smoke before turning his attention back to getting the fuck away from there. The commander was in the shop so hopefully, with their leader paralyzed, it would take the other soldiers a little while to orient themselves on what to do.  
  
The Wizard would be poisoned but at least the distraction should give him time to escape (and hopefully get medical treatment). Mizuuma ran while screaming internally ‘SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!’ He really hoped his actions didn't kill anyone. He might not get marked as a PK for killing NPCs but killing an NPC was arguably WORSE in his opinion.  
  
Other Players might be real people with real feelings but at least they don't die for real! A dead NPC doesn't get a respawn. There were complaints about quest-givers dying but the company behind the game said that it was part of the Realism. NPCs lived, aged and died. Seriously, there was an old Sage NPC who used to enchant items in exchange for gold. He passed away a few weeks ago and his young apprentice took over. The kid was skilled but many Players complained on the forums that he just wasn't as good.  
  
So in this way, Mizuuma placed more value on NPC life than Players. Aside from the non sentient animals at least.  
  
He was several blocks away before he heard the clanking of armor that signaled the soldiers had begun searching for him. Just in time too as he slipped off the roof and into the hidden passage, scurrying through to enter the sewers. It was disgusting down here but he pulled his Cloak further around his face and took off down the tunnels and get back to the shop.  
  
The soldiers were doing raids on suspected members or associates of the Thieves Guild. This was something he HAD to tell Sethinel about. They had to warn the guild to be careful. Mizuuma pressed himself into a small alcove, too small for anyone who wasn't child sized to fit into, to catch his breath. Running for so long was hard.  
  
He pulled out his own identification pendant and pouted. Looks like he would have to hide it. No more wearing it around publicly (not that he did, he always kept it under his shirt) unless he could find some way to make people believe it was just a normal pendant. There was no true way to tell what pendants were for the guild or just plain jewelry but Mizuuma wasn't taking any chances.  
  
None of the Guild’s pendants contained gemstones. They sparkled and caught the light, too dangerous for those wanting to sneak around. But what if that was the point? Normal jewelry in the game was MEANT to be eye catching and pretty. As intricate as the Thief pendants were, they were a solid color with no gem accents, even the gold and silver pendants were forged to divert attention away.  
  
But if that's what the soldiers were looking for…  
  
Mizuuma examined his necklace and grinned to himself. Then he would simply have to make his pendant prettier. They would never suspect a criminal would go out of their way to stand out. Plus, if he was going to wear this thing, he wanted a pretty one. It definitely wasn't just an excuse to bedazzle his bling.  
  
Besides~certain gemstones had special effects. If he made his pendant an enchanted equipment then it would register as Armor and not seen as something worn just for identification.  
  
Right?  
  
Maybe it was about time Mizuuma left the city.  
  
\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: *Stares at chapter* Erm...not entirely sure what's happening here...but Mizu sure would enjoy bedazzling his pendant~


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long! Been busy with my other stuff.
> 
> Also currently typing a little novel in collaboration with another writer. I sort of want to publish an actual short (?) story...

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventure**  
  
**Chapter 8**  
  
\---  
  
Sethinel seemed worried about the news that the city was sending soldiers to crack down on the...shadier side of their population. He sent off the warning to the Guild and they were all told to be careful.  
  
“Don't try going to the guild alone for a while.” He tells Mizu. “We need to lay low until this blows over.”

The player nodded. He wasn't gonna anyway, it was too scary. Part of him was curious as to why the guards were cracking down on Thieves Guild members. Also, he was working on altering his pendant.

His only relevant crafting Skill was Tailoring but he didn't need to use a game Skill for this. She made jewelry IRL after all. First he polished the pewter with a vinegar mixture so it wasn't the dulled metal and instead, shone like real jewelry. Then Mizu went to the marketplace to see if he could buy some wires and beads. He spent some time bedazzling his pendant in a tasteful manner. It looked more like a nice decoration and not some secret pass to a criminal organization. The only thing revealing it's true purpose was the tiny engraved Gnosis on it and that wasn't particularly incriminating on its own. Plus, with the wire, he could change out the beads and decorations easily by just unraveling it if he wanted to change it out later.

Mizuuma held up his pendant and tilted it into the light. Satellite whistled. “Are you trying to get a Jewel-craft skill?”

Mizuuma shook his head. “Naw. I have 10 Skills. Can't make any more.”

“You seemed to be pretty good with those wires though.” Satellite points out. The crossplayer laughs. “Well I make jewelry IRL so it's not a problem for me.”

Satellite looked pretty interested in that. “That sounds pretty neat. Maybe you could make it in the game too? It might sell well.”

Mizu shrugged. Perhaps. He DID want to find another way to supplement his earnings now that he couldn't sell his potions to the Thieves Guild. He saw the PERFECT wagon for sale at the market the other day and he **really** wanted it.

It was more expensive than the original one he had his eye on but he looked at this thing and fell in love instantly.

Large enough for a sleeping, cooking and crafting station to be installed. Security locked. But it cost 1200 gold. Mizu knew that he was pretty much setting himself up with higher and higher goals but part of it was because he didn't really want to leave the starting city yet. But he put his foot down for this. No. This will be his wagon. Even if something even cooler shows up on the market, he wouldn't look at it.

If he did that he would never end up getting one.

Ugh...how much gold did he have right now?

534-ish?

Yeah, he definitely needed to sell some sort of wares to make up for losing the Thieves Guild as a client. He tucked his nicely bedazzled pendant under his shirt and got back to work helping Satellite repair some clothing. He was working 3-4 odd jobs currently. Helping Satellite repair stuff (she didn't mind paying him a little, he has been helping her for free long enough to pay off the cost for clothing), waitress-ing at the Inn (and doing food preparation with Rodrich), apprenticing with Sethinel and occasionally working with Christo in the library.

That last one wasn't exactly a job but Christo would give him a couple gold and silver for helping out. Mizuuma thanked him profusely for it, incredibly grateful for the financial help.

At least he wasn't spending money for food and shelter since he got to eat while working the Inn and during his cooking lessons with Rodrich. And Sethinel let him sleepover in the workshop sometimes. And if he got hungry enough he just killed a few rabbits or other animals to get their meat.

He was careful to only use Dissect on them a couple of times. Didn't want a repeat of that NoItemDrop glitch. As Mizu knelt before a campfire later that morning, roasting a cleaned and gutted rabbit, he wondered if he was playing the game wrong.

His Player friends were all exasperated at his lack of progress. He hasn't even gotten to level 15 yet and the average level of players who've been in the game as long as he was were around 30. But Mizuuma liked taking it slow. He didn't have any grand epic quest or anything. He just wanted to have fun.

It's just that fun for him involved grinding his Craft skills and making money.

Though he was a little lonely since Narcissa had left the city, WASD and his crew were off adventuring somewhere and Satellite was always busy with work. Mizuuma paused. Does that mean his only friends now are NPCs and one Player?

He couldn't decide if that was a problem or not.

And what was the name of those other Players he partied with that one time? That werewolf archer girl? Mizu shook his head. Not important right now.

He had to focus on making money so he could finally leave the starting city. He looked over to the huge stone walls of the city in the distance. Gonna miss the place a lot once he actually left. Even though Pineapple and the others were gone he could still send them PMs through the Friend menu. But his NPC friends won't have that sort of thing.

Perhaps he could send them mail. That was a thing here right?

As Mizu kicked dirt over the fire pit so he could make his way back to the city, his passive Perception picked up on some hostile intent nearby. He continued moving normally as if he didn't notice as he strained his ears and other senses to find where this was coming from.

“What a coincidence~fancy seeing you here bitch~”

A large man came out from behind a tree. Mizuuma was momentarily stunned at how someone that wide managed to hide behind the tree. He grimaced when 3 other guys came out of the forest as well. Seriously, how the FUCK did he miss them?!

Mizu stared at them blankly. “Who're you guys?”

If this was an anime the men would have face planted in a comedic fashion, instead the leader(?) just sneers. “Seriously? You don't remember me?”

Mizu shook his head with a wide eyed look of innocent confusion.

The leader snarls. “Seriously?! You stabbed out my ear!”

Oh. That's who these guys were. Well forgive him for not remembering, it's not like they introduced themselves or anything. Still though, Mizuuma played dumb. “I've stabbed out many people's ears, you're gonna need to be more specific.” As he spoke he turned his head to be able to see all of them, they were trying to surround him. Not good.

His statement seemed to put the men aback. “Really are a crazy bitch aren't you?”

Mizuuma pouted. “You know, I noticed this before but...how come you can swear?”

“Excuse me?” The leader asks in confusion at the non sequitur.

Mizuuma continued, waving his hands around as he spoke, brushing it along his belt with a bunch of tiny vials. “How come you can swear.” He repeated. “I can't swear. Pablo keeps censoring me.”

“Who the **fuck** is Pablo?” One of the other men asked.

“This is not important right now!” The leader turns to address the man who spoke and Mizuuma took that chance to throw down a paralysis potion at their feet with one hand while grabbing the antidote with the other and popping the lid off to shove the end into his mouth. The potion exploded and everyone, including Mizu fell over as their limbs locked in place, twitching. Explosives were an Alchemist specialty and Mizuuma really loved that.

**Sub-Skill [Sleight of Hand] created under the [Sneak] skill**

**Sleight of Hand** (Beginner Lv.1 0%)

**The ability to do things with your hands without drawing attention to them.**

_‘Great. But this is_ **_not_ ** _the time Pablo!’_ Mizuuma groaned while twitching spastically and trying to drink the Paralysis antidote.

He hears the men groaning as well as they tried desperately to fight off the potion effect. Hah! This stuff was good for at least 30 seconds! Mizuuma drank the antidote as fast as he could and shakily got to his feet. Ugh. He felt numb all over with pins and needles. Like when his legs fell asleep but with his whole body.

He staggered away clumsily and tried to run in the direction of the city. Come on! He wasn't gonna get much of a head start if he didn't start running NOW!

Once he made it somewhat farther from the group of men, Mizuuma tossed a Poison potion at their feet as well. Just in case.

He hears them cursing profusely as he gets enough control of his limbs to begin running toward the city where it was mildly safer.

Fuck.

Didn't think those drunk guys even remembered him enough to recognize him, much less track him down. Mizuuma kept running and running as fast as he could. He hears angry shouting behind him as the Paralysis effect ran out and he pulls another potion from his belt to throw over his shoulder behind him.

Another explosion went off. He was getting closer to the city and could see other beginner players hunting the easy mobs. He was panting heavily as he ran. He checked on his potions. Not a lot left, he used a bunch while he was hunting.

There was a sound of something spinning through the air and he dove to the side, tumbling along the grass. As he skids to a stop and looks up, he saw a hand axe fly past where he would have been.

“DID YOU JUST THROW A F@$!ING AX AT ME?!?” He shrieked loudly as he scrambled back to his feet and took off running again.

“Get back here and DIE you bitch!” he hears the leader snarl angrily.

“Hey, she really can't swear.” another voice says in amusement.

Mizuuma heard the sound of someone being slapped. He nearly tripped while slipping between a couple Players. “Sorry! S’cuse me! Angry dudes trying to kill me!”

A few players stared at the very large burly men chasing what appeared to be a small girl. A player in thick armor who appeared to be a Knight comes up and plants himself between them. “Halt you brutes! How dare you attempt to lay thine hands upon this fair maiden!”

Everyone pauses at that to stare at the man incredulously. One thought went through their heads _‘Oh no. He's a ROLEPLAYER.’_

The leader scowled at this idiot who got in his way. “We're just here to make that bitch pay for what she did to me!”

“I stabbed you because you were molesting a waitress!” Mizuuma clarifies quickly and loudly.

More players were paying attention now. Many were frowning at the group of men. The female players in particular were glaring. The leader’s three friends were looking nervous as the other players gathered around. “Uh...Stone I don't think we should-”

Cutting off his friend's words, the leader loudly laughs. “She was an NPC! It doesn't matter!” he sneers. “Those waitress NPCs exist just for eye candy. They're not PEOPLE. So what's wrong with doing what I want with them?”

“Her NAME is Marble! She's working at the inn to earn money to buy her own house so she can move out of her parent's place!” Mizuuma tells him angrily.

“It's not a real person! It's a goddamn NPC!” The leader (Stone?) complains.

The knight player glares at the leader. “Truly you are the worst of Scum! A true heinous villain who dares to lay his hands upon fair maidens without their consent!” He draws his sword and poses (heroically?) “Have at thee!”

Mizuuma rolls his eyes and considers making a run for it while the guys are distracted but seeing as how his ‘white knight’ was being surrounded by the angry men, he couldn't help but want to stick around. Just in case he needed help.

The players around them were also getting agitated.

The leader screams at the knight. “Are you seriously defending NPCs? They're just code!”

“This dude threatened to kill the Inn owner.” Mizuuma piped up and grinned inwardly when many outraged cries sounded out. While there were no rules against killing NPCs, that fact that they didn't respawn and many early Quests were actually lost because of stupid players killing them for fun, there was an unspoken rule that NPCs, _**especially**_ storekeepers and the like, were absolutely off limits.

The broken Quest trees were so bad the Mods had to actually step in and have in-game Resurrections spells cast to restore the dead NPCs.

So yeah, no killing NPCs.

With the hostility aimed at them, the men grabbed their boss and dragged him away, with that huge fight that broke out a few days ago they didn't want to start anything. The Mods were STILL on high alert. Frankly, none of them really wanted to seek out that psychopath with the scissors but their leader had insisted.

One of them shivered at the memory of the explosion that caused them all to fall paralyzed. Stone might not realize it but that psycho could have easily slit all their throats and steal their loot. They were relieved she didn't and were really hoping to just stay away from her. The group of men dragged their protesting leader away under the harsh glares from the other players.

Once they were gone the other players went back to doing their own thing. Mizuuma was going to head back into the city himself but the knight player knelt before him so he could be eye level. “Are you alright milady?”

“Yeah I'm good. Thanks for defending me I guess….” Mizu shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Also I'm a boy.”

Instead of looking surprised, the knight swooned. “You do not need to lie to me milady. I have no wicked intentions towards you.” Under Mizuuma's incredulous stare the knight gets up and posed (dashingly?). “I will defend your chastity from wicked men such as them! You do not need to pretend to be a boy to dissuade the perverts and deviants from attempting to have their way with you.”

“....what?”

The knight gets down on one knee and gently takes one of Mizu’s hands. “This knight pledges to protect thee, fair maiden, I shall defend you from all manner of ruffians.” He leans back with one hand pointed to the sky “In the name of the great god Heimdall, I, White Naito, shall be _henceforth_ , your guardian!”

**[White Naito has been added to your friends list]**

_‘Excuse me what?!’_

The knight releases Mizuuma's hand and poses dramatically once more. “Whenever you require assistance, simply call my name and I shall be there to protect you. For now fair maiden, I must be off!” While Mizuuma was still in a daze the knight starts running across the grass, puts his fingers to his lips to whistle and a magical glowing horse appears under him. The horse rears back and the knight poses upon its back.

“White Naito! Away!” The knight, Naito, declares before galloping off into the distance.

A few other players had stopped to witness the spectacle. A mage leans over to address Mizuuma. “Don't worry kid. He's crazy but I think he's harmless. I once saw him do the same thing with some NPC children. I think he really wants to role play a knight protecting a child.”

Mizuuma nodded slowly. Well that happened. He opened his friends menu and sure enough…

**[White Naito] Lv. 300**

**Class: White Knight of the Far Seeing Eye**

The Friend menu had privacy settings so a Player could hide information about themselves if they chose to. Mizuuma had his own setting set to private so all anyone could see was his name. This dude though…

Was he bragging?

That was a really unique Class too.

At least this might be interesting.

Plus, if a high level player wanted to be his bodyguard for free or something, who was he to crush the man's LARPing dreams?

Having had enough excitement for the day, Mizu headed back into the city to work in the library for a bit. He wanted to earn money and raise his INT stat.

\---

Mizu slams his hands on the table. Christo jumps and stares at him in shock. “What's wrong?”

“Archery is just dabbing before you kill someone!” Mizuuma cries loudly at the epiphany he just had. Christo blinks slowly before sighing. “Please be more quiet in the library Mizuuma.”

But Mizu couldn't sit still. This revelation just blew his mind. It was a dark forbidden truth of the universe that he wasn't sure if he could ever recover from.

He looks down at the book he was holding, an instruction manual on archery. He was just putting books away and had glanced at it, specifically at the image on the cover of an archer drawing the bow out. He shuddered.

Well he was going to try very hard to forget this knowledge. Mizuuma slipped the book back on the shelf and continued down the shelves. He obviously didn't have time to read the books he puts away but he's been trying to see if flipping through the book and reading as quickly as he could would do anything.

So far nothing.

He sighed and shelved another book.

There was a lot he had to think about today. He apparently had a nemesis now, if that Stone guy was still holding a grudge. Maybe he should just report the guy but it would be difficult to do so without his full player name or ID. He didn't even remember to take a screenshot of the guy so he had nothing to give the Mods to begin going after him.

At the very least, this meant Mizuuma would have to be more careful when he was alone now.

Train his Perception stat as much as he can.

And his other Skills too. He had been neglecting his wide plethora of Skills lately to focus on Brewing. Also, he wanted to try making origami animals for sale. If he could make them into earrings or other accessories as well…

He already knew his Paper Sculptures apparently had special effects due to the game lore placing a lot of power into sculpted or crafted items. Perhaps he could make accessories that give stat boosts? His stuffed animals already had various effects. Why not this?

“Hey Christo?”

“What is it?”

“Is there a paper store in this city?”

Christo leans around a shelf to look at Mizu. “Like parchment paper?”

“No, tree pulp paper like the stuff you have for people to take notes on. Is there any place that sells pretty paper?” Satellite used plain white tree pulp paper for drawing sketches of new dress designs so maybe he could ask her if Christo didn't know. He still had a small stack of them but he figured he should make origami from both pure white and pretty patterned paper.

He doubts the game had actual origami paper but pretty paper or fancy paper was probably available right? At least wrapping paper for gifts and stuff.

 _‘I mean...humans have been using paper to wrap stuff since it was invented...I'm sure they must have it in the game too right?’_ the game world was heavily inspired by Norse mythology and Norse culture. They celebrated Yule and with how much Christmas has been mixed into things over the Years they must have similar practices?

“A paper store...I believe there is a decoration shop down Sergund’s Street…” Christo muses. Mizuuma pulled out the unfinished map of the city and asked Christo to point it out. Once he got his information, Mizu circled the location for later.

He attempted to train his Perception by keeping track of where Christo was at all times. It was difficult work but he did manage to raise his Perception by 2 points. This was going to take forever.

After getting his pay, 10 gold, and bidding Christo a farewell, Mizuuma went off to find the paper store. Navigating via the rooftops as per usual, he quickly made his way to a small shop. He jumped down, rolling to reduce damage easily due to reaching Acrobatics Intermediate level 9, and pushed open the door to the shop.

A little bell went off and he found himself in a delightful little shop with shelves upon shelves of ribbons, colorful fabrics, small sculptures, tea sets, paper (SCORE!) and various other supplies. He was momentarily stunned by the wonderful colors.

**+1 Art**

He practically salivate at the sight of everything. It was like when she goes into a craft store IRL and spends hours browsing through the shelves. As Mizu was lost in wonder at the colorful wares, a shop assistant came up to address him. “Hello miss. What can I help you find today?”

“Oh-right.” Mizuuma shook himself out of his daze. “I'm looking for paper.”

He was led over to a display with many sheets of patterned paper. “What sort of patterns are you're looking for?”

“I think I'm set to just browse now.” Mizuuma assure her. The shop assistant nodded. “Alright then. If you need help just call for me. My name is Sherry.”

Mizuuma gave her a polite nod and turned his attention onto the shelf. So many pretty papers….

The price wasn't...too bad. 10 copper for a large sheet of solid colored paper. 1 silver for the pretty pattern ones. He checked his inventory to see how much he had.

In the end he got 5 large sheets of a solid color (Black, Red, Green, Blue and Purple) and 5 different patterned paper. He had plenty of white paper from Satellite so he didn't need to worry about that.

He settled himself in Sethinel’s workspace and set to work cutting the paper carefully into perfect squares. Rather difficult. He looked around for something square he can use to mark down the paper and ended tracing a small square box Sethinel used for packing small potions to mark out his paper for where to cut.

It was tedious but his Max Leveled Precision Sub-Skill from Tailoring actually auto corrected his cuts to line up straight while he worked. Precision was a sub skill meant for helping Players more easily sew or cut in straight lines while tailoring. This was very helpful. He sang to himself while he worked to try and gain exp with his Singing Skill.

_“-they’ll never ever fight over you~”_

**Singing has reached Intermediate level 5**

**New sub skill Screech created**

**New sub skill Lullaby created**

Two new sub Skills? At once? Sweet!

Mizuuma kept cutting the paper, he can check these new skills later. It didn't take him long to get evenly sized squares out of all the paper. He looked at the leftover paper scraps and considered them.

“Repair!” He says while poking at the scraps, just to see what would happen. Part of him was expecting nothing but the scraps all fused together to make a lopsided piece of paper. Mizuuma stared at it. The colors didn't match up and it was very disjointed but…

He could sort of recycle paper. Or at the very least, combine broken paper scraps back into a single piece of paper. Could he do that with cloth as well? He pulled out some fabric scraps and tried casting Repair as a Spell rather than manually sewing them together.

Some of the fabric twined together with each other but it didn't turn out very good. The ends were frayed and it looked more like a twisted bundle of cloth instead of a flat sheet. The item it create was called [Mixed Fabric Bundle] which made Mizuuma frown. Normally the Repair skills restored durability on an object but these things were already at max durability, they were simply in little pieces.

It seems the system tried to put them together but the result was a lumpy bundle of fabric would require more work to use for anything significant. The paper on the other hand, could be used. Even if the colors looked super weird. Mizuuma picked up the mismatched piece of paper.

[Patchwork Paper Sheet]

Well. That's something? He cut it out into a square and cast Repair on the leftovers once again. They reformed together into a small sheet of paper. It was pretty neat how it kept the same mass and simply fuses the pieces together. The colors were even more warped now.

He repeated that a few times until he was able to use up all the paper into evenly sized squares. He even used some plain white paper to add enough mass to accomplish this.

Once he'd amassed a stack if colorful squares of paper, he spend the next few hours folding a variety of different animals. Cat, octopus, dog, fox, camel, crane, sunfish, crab…

Sethinel came in at some point and watched Mizuuma deftly folding the paper. “Fascinating. I still don't know how you manage this…”

“Years of practice pretty much.” Mizuuma grins at his alchemy teacher. “I even made a few of these designs myself.” He was quite proud of that. Sethinel was picking up the completed animals to examine.

“They're lovely but why are you making them?”

“I need an alternative source of income.” Mizuuma shrugged. He held up a finished starfish. “At least until we can sell to the guild again.”

Sethinel sighed. “I've managed to talk to the guild leader about how to continue our transactions without going all the way to the guild. She said she’ll be sending people to a meeting spot in the forests behind the city tonight.”

“Ok. So do you need me to whip up a few more special effect potions?” Mizu asked. Sethinel smiled “You're a hard worker aren't you kid?”

The two worked on Brewing until the afternoon passed and Mizu had to leave for his work shift at the Inn. Sethinel informs him where the exchange would be happening and tells him to come if he could but he didn't need to if he couldn't make it.

“You're working multiple jobs already. Do you really need this much money?” He asks as they clean up the remains of ingredients and failed potions. Mizuuma nodded. “There's something I want to buy. And I want to eventually leave the city so I can explore the world you know?”

He chuckles. “Ah, to be young again...well I have to say I will miss you when you leave.” He looked a little sad. “You know…” he shakes his head. “Nevermind. I shouldn't make you late for work. See you tonight or tomorrow kid.”

Mizuuma waves as he leaves the workshop, a new batch of personal potions in his inventory and running off in the direction of the inn. He was getting faster everyday as his Agility and Acrobatics went up. In fact his Acrobatics skill was already Intermediate level 9. Soon he would hit Expert level and without any class associated with it, that would be the highest he could go.

Unless he got some sort of class that had Acrobatics as a feature, that skill would never go above Expert Lv.9 99%. Part of Mizu was disappointed that skills couldn't be leveled indefinitely but he understood the reasoning behind that. Either way, with his Intermediate Lv.9 45% skill and 113 Agility, he practically flew up the brick wall as he made his way to the rooftop.

He had to hurry as he was running late and started changing into his uniform while running. The upside with the maid dress being in separate parts was that he could slip the skirt on over his trousers and then kick those trousers off without exposing himself. He jumped around on one leg as he pulled his pants the rest of the way off just in time to make a leap for the next rooftop.

His body felt light and he easily maneuvered through what he had come to see as his personal road. A path only he transversed. What had begun as just a way for him to get around the city without being stepped on by other players had become his own space. His own territory in a way.

He knew where to put his feet to ground himself for the next jump, where alcoves and other hiding spots were, how to move efficiently navigate the city from above. Mizuuma laughed to himself at the feeling of the wind blowing past him as he ran. This thrill never failed to make him smile. He buttoned his blouse as he leaped over another roof and was pulling on the frilly vest by the time he got to the end of that roof.

He finally landed on the roof of the inn and slid down the water pipe along the side of the building. His winced a little at the friction burn on his hands, note to self, get gloves, but landed in the alleyway and made his way to the backdoor where staff entered. “Hi Tiffany!” He called cheerfully to another waitress. She waved as she placed some dirty dishes in the sink. “Hello Mizuuma. Cutting it a bit close today huh?” She teased.

“I like to call it, efficient time use.” Mizuuma responded proudly. The waitress laughed as she ducked out of the kitchen to return to the front. Mizuuma quickly fixed his hair and clothes in front of a mirror before washing his hands. Dinner shift at the inn was rowdy and packed as ever.

This particular inn gain a lot of popularity after the new uniforms came in. Satellite thanked Mizu for getting her business and Gregory thanked him for introducing the idea. Cute waitress/maid uniforms were a hit with the Players and it got them more business than the other inns in the area.

They were commissioning Satellite for their own unique uniforms as well and the Tailor was thrilled at how well her work was selling. She even told Mizu that hiring him as her model was totally worth it.

Mizuuma twirled around delivering food and the evening passed in a blur. At least it would have if not for one thing. One person to be exact.

Mizuuma's eyebrow twitched as he stood before a table with a Player. He had come to take his order and was greeted by an over the top exclamation.

“Fair maiden we meet again! Truly it must be fate! How art thou doing this fine evening? Have any more ruffians attempted to accost you?”

Mizuuma's smile twitched. He had nothing against role players but hearing him say this with a straight face make it hard to not laugh. “I'm fine. Haven't seen those guys after you chased them off. Doesn't mean they won't come looking for me again I suppose but I'm probably gonna be ok if I'm in the city. Now would you like a drink?”

“The clear taste of chilled water would be like a blessing from the gods themselves!”

Mizuuma wrote down Iced Water. “Anything to start off?”

“Nay, I am ready for the true meal of the evening.”

He holds up his notepad. “So...what would you like tonight? We're having a special on lamb…”

The player, White Naito, seriously Mizuuma couldn't forget his name if he tried, arched back dramatically with a hand over his head. “Alas! I am a vegetarian! I do not consume the flesh of another living creature.”

“We've got a potato and vegetable stew with bread.” Mizuuma says as politely as he could.

White Naito beams. Like, smiles so brightly it looked like there was a bright light shining off his body. Was that some kinda passive Skill?! “That sounds most scrumptious milady.”

“Alright then. You food will be out shortly.” Mizuuma smiles politely and walks off to the kitchen to place the order.

It was a little weird how this guy seemed so interested in him. He didn't seem malicious though, more like he was very devoted to his role play. Mizuuma saw how other Players gave Naito weird, amused looks as he loudly made conversation with someone sitting near him at another table.

A lot of them were laughing behind their hands at his antics or groaning in annoyance at his speech. Mizuuma noted how despite how packed the inn was, a situation in which many players would share tables so they could get a meal, Naito’s table was empty aside from himself.

No one seemed to want to share with him. Even the players in nearby tables moved their chairs to be further from him. He didn't seem to notice, or was very good at hiding it since his bright smile didn't fade in the slightest and he cheerfully continued talking to the people unfortunate enough to be sitting near him.

“A fine evening such as this make me long to bask under the glorious light of the moon and stars, perchance any of you might like to join me after dinner?” he asked a guy who looked to be trying to find some excuse to stop talking to him.

Mizuuma went off to serve other tables and tried not to let it bother him. When he returned with a tray for Naito’s table he saw that the Knight had an even wider expanse of empty space around him.

“Here's your soup and bread.” He says as he placed down the food. Naito beams at him happily once more. “I thank thee for this wonderful meal, milady.”

“You're welcome I guess. Enjoy your food.” Mizuuma walked off and couldn't help but smile at the happy sound Naito made as he tried the soup. He felt a little proud about that since he and Rodrich made that together.

As the night wore on he was distracted from thinking about the Knight player as other customers called for his attention. Once the inn began to empty however, he noticed the man was still there. He was still smiling but it was less energetic, more of a soft, comfortable smile. Like he was simply enjoying himself just sitting there and watching other people.

It was a nice smile. If a little lonely.

Mizuuma was wiping off a table that some Players just left and saw one of the other waitresses go up to Naito. Probably telling him they were closing soon.

He sees the player get up and bow deeply to her before leaving. Mizuuma couldn't stop himself from giving him a friendly goodbye wave. Naito’s face lit up with another of those beaming smiles and Mizuuma couldn't help but smile back.

As the door of the restaurant half of the inn closed, Mizuuma sighed. Weird as that guy was, he seemed like a good person, if a little lonely. _‘I wonder if he has any friends?’_

After helping them clean up and pack up for the night, Mizuuma slipped into the kitchen for his nightly Cooking lessons with Rodrich.

He learned another recipe and increased his Cooking skill along with Freshen and Preserve. His Preserve skill was a much higher level since he used it constantly on the items he got off the mobs around the city while grinding his Dissect skill.

Carrying around an inventory full of rotten flesh was not fun. He thanked Pablo for the Preserve skill everyday since he received it.

The fact that the Skill could be used on an item continuously to reset its [Decay] counter was a literal god send. Or should he call it System Send?

Either way, having fresh meat (and organs) on him at all times might seem weird but Mizu needed ingredients. And emergency food rations. He found that if he used the Cooking and Preserve skill on strips of meat while adding Salt and some Spices he could create jerky. He had a few stacks of them saved for emergencies in his inventory.

And if all else fails, he had piles of animal organs to mess around with for making sausages. He hadn't actually been able to craft his own sausages yet but he was getting closer to it.

The Freshen skill easily cleaned the meat which Mizu was grateful for. IRL cleaning of the intestines for food required a lot of work. Salt scrubs and high pressure hot water to expel the feces and other icky stuff…

He loved how the game allowed players to use Skills manually or as a Spell. Being able to cook food manually was fun but time consuming whereas if he had all the ingredients AND a recipe, it was possible to using Cooking as a Spell while having the recipe selected to immediately prepare the meal. It was subpar to the manual cooking result but for someone in a rush it worked fine.

Mizuuma changed out of his uniform and back into a simple tunic and pants, he was planning to go grind some of his fighting skills with the night time mob spawns before going to sleep.

Sleep was technically something a player could forgo but going without it for too long in the game would cause certain debuffs. Many players would set their Avatars to sleep so they could leave the Pod and go to the bathroom or eat. Since time in the game was 4 times faster than IRL they can just leave for a few minutes and log back in with their avatar well rested from a few hours of sleep.

The streets were quiet and dark. Mizu stepped out of the door into the side alleyway where the staff exit was and was about to scale the wall when his Perception pinged and he threw himself to the side. Unfortunately he didn't get far enough. He felt rough hands grab onto him and his mouth was covered by another large palm.

Seriously how did these guys manage to hide so well? They MUST have a Conceal Presence skill!

“Took you long enough to come out!” A gruff voice hissed. “We've been waiting for hours!”

Mizuuma struggled but his strength stat wasn't high enough to break free from their grip. He made muffled protests but couldn't scream with the hand over his mouth. With his arms and legs being held down he couldn't even activate any combat skills.

Shit. Did he have anything he could use to get out of this?!

If only he could get his mouth free to scream. He struggled and he felt the men laughing quietly. “Not so quick now are you bitch?” Mizuuma shrieked into the hand over his face and tried to bite him but he couldn't get his teeth around the thick glove.

Think. Is there anything he could do without moving his arms or legs? He felt something sharp poking against his neck and stilled his struggling. Damn asshole had a knife!

He shivered as the blade lightly poked his neck. “Should I slit your throat? Naw. That's too fast.” The man sneered. He moved the knife down lower to where Mizuuma's stomach was. “I was considering stabbing out your ears like you did to me but then you wouldn't be able to hear me laugh.” He chuckled.

That was all the warning Mizu got before the man stabbed him in the stomach. Mizuuma's pain filled scream was muffled but it was still pretty loud. He saw his HP draining out at the bottom of his screen. Fuck. Fuck.

“Oh I am going to enjoy this~” the man laughed at the small boy’s obvious pain. The other men were looking a little nervous. “Boss, we could get banned for this you know?”

“Shut up!” The leader growled. Mizuuma managed to cast Blessing on himself non-verbally. Using Spells non-verbal was difficult and it only worked because he was screaming a muffled “Blessing!” Over and over again.

His HP stopped draining and some of the pain lessened but he didn't have long before the man noticed he wasn't dying anymore and stabbed him again.

Think. Think. Think.

He needed some kind of distraction. Just long enough for him to scream.

He mentally swiped through his GUI searching for anything he could use.

He nearly swiped past his Friends list but paused. The names of Players who were logged out were gray and the screen was mainly filled with gray named but...

**[White Naito]**

It stood out in Blue indicating he was still online. Mizuuma mentally typed out a quick PM.

[HELP!]

He got a response quickly.

[Where are you?]

He was going to reply but the man holding him stabbed him in the stomach once more. Mizuuma writhed in pain and screamed. His eyes were tearing up and the man laughed.

Mizuuma desperately cast Blessing again. He couldn't concentrate enough to type. There had to be some way to…

He reached mentally into his inventory, this HAD to work! Please!

He materialized all the animal organs, intestines and offals in his inventory. The macabre display hung in a circle around him in the air for a split second before the gravity effects took hold and they rained down over the group.

“Ahhh! What the FUCK?!” One shouted. Another was screaming and trying to cover his face. “That's disgusting!”

The distraction proved enough, he felt the hands loosen just a little. Just enough for him to twist his head free, take a deep breath and-

“▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

He activated his new sub-skill [Screech]

The noise rang out inhumanly loud.

The men all cried out in pain and covered their ears, dropping Mizu to the ground. He kept his mouth open, screaming as long as he could. He wanted to run away but it appeared the knife had been coated in some sort of paralysis potion. His arms and legs were numb but he could still move his head.

The leader snarled. “Shut UP!” and raised a leg to stomp on Mizuuma's chest, cutting off his breath. Mizuuma choked and gasped for air. His HP dipped down again. He was also feeling light headed from screaming so long.

He wanted to cast Blessing again but the man kicked him in the head and he cried out, his vision swimming dangerously. Dann realism and stuff! He might have a concussion.

**Ailment gained [Concussion]**

**While under the effects of [Concussion] vision is impaired. Spells have 30% chance of failure.**

Well THANKS Pablo! This is SO NICE TO KNOW RIGHT NOW!!!

Mizuuma could only grunt in pain as the man kicked him over and over again. He hears a voice call out loudly.

“You cowardly knaves DARE to harm the maiden! This Knight shall deal out righteous judgment!”

 _‘Glad you're here but maybe less talking and more SAVING ME?!’_ Mizuuma screamed in his head.

He hears the sounds of fighting but groaned internally when he noticed his HP sliding into the red. Dammit.

He feels himself being lifted up and barely makes out a bright beaming light. “Rest your fears milady! I am here!”

Mizuuma's HP hit 0 and his avatar shattered.

\---

Zyun-Jan groaned as she sat up in her pod. The headset had a timer on it that was counting backward.

23.59.44

Ugh! This was so frustrating.

Dying in the game meant being locked out from logging in for a full 24 hours. Since the time in the game was 4 times faster it meant by the time she could log back in she would have missed 4 days.

4 days of work, salary and training!

Worse than that. She would lose a level and all her Skill EXP would take a hit, if not lose a level altogether!

There might also be a loss of a random item from her inventory and some gold which was annoying.

Zyun-Jan slumped over the pod. She was so incredibly angry right now.

Well, there was nothing she could do about it. Might as well go get some IRL stuff done.

Also, gonna look up some guides on how to grind the Perception stat.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archery is just dabbing before you kill someone.
> 
> Suffer with me at this revelation!


	9. Chapter 9

**Mizuuma's Royal Road Adventures**

**-Chapter 9-**   


\---

When Mizuuma logged back in a day later he was immediately hit with 300+ PMs.

He opened his menu while climbing the wall to sit down on top of the Inn. Having logged back in exactly when the timer went down, it was late at night (the same time he had died 4 days ago in game) and Mizuuma wanted off the ground where he was vulnerable.

He opened his menu and twitched at the long stream of System PM Alerts.

 

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

**…**

 

It continued on past his GUI and Mizu was forced to scroll down to get to the first one.

 

**[White Naito]**

Omg r u ok?!

 

He opened the next one.

 

**[White Naito]**

I'm sorry I'm sorry

 

He opened the next one.

 

**[White Naito]**

Are you there?

 

**[White Naito]**

Are you mad at me? I'm sos sorry!

 

**[White Naito]**

I really am sorry!!!

 

**[White Naito]**

(TT_TT)

 

**[White Naito]**

Please forgive me?

 

**[White Naito]**

I'll do better jext time?

 

**[White Naito]**

*next

 

**[White Naito]**

If you're mad I understand

 

**[White Naito]**

Hello?

 

**[White Naito]**

Did you block me?

 

**[White Naito]**

I'm sooooooorry

 

Mizuuma sighed and quickly deleted the PMs as he finished reading them.

Naito’s messages got more frantic as Mizuuma continued to ‘ignore' his PMs. Looks like the guy hadn't remembered that death causes a game lock out. Mizuuma read as Naito’s PMs went through the whole stages of grief and couldn't help but feel kinda amused by it.

Feeling a little bad for the other Player, Mizuuma wrote out a PM.

 

**[Mizuuma]**

Dude. Death = 24 hours game lock out. I JUST logged back in right now. It's fine. I'm not mad.

 

Actually, Mizuuma opened his Skills and Stats menu to see how bad he was doing. Ugh...not too bad. He lost a bunch of EXP for his Skills but none of them went down a level so at least he didn't have to deal with that. He lost a level and 5 Stat points in...he wasn't sure which of his Stats took the hit. Probably INT.

He checked his Inventory and sighed. Lost all his Rabbit skins and meat. That wasn't too bad. He didn't even lose any Gold which was a relief.

He was going to have to grind like crazy to get his Skills back up though. Also, since he lost a level he could take this time to reevaluate which Stats he should invest in. Preferably the ones which he couldn't raise from simple actions in the game.

He groaned. This was gonna be annoying.

At least with the 4 day ‘death' his character Avatar was well rested enough that he could probably work through the night and not have to ‘sleep’ again until the next night. He settled onto the rooftop and took out some paper to fold. Might as well get some work done.

Ah...he probably missed the exchange that was gonna happen with the Thieves Guild in the forest. Oh gosh he missed 4 days of work. He hoped Gregory and Sethinel weren't mad. He would just tell them he died.

Best excuse for missing work.

 

**[White Naito has sent a PM]**

 

Mizuuma opened the message on the screen as he continued working, muscle memory creasing the paper without him needing to focus on it.

 

[ **White Naito]**

Thank god. Are you sure you're ok? Those men who attacked you were dealt with! I got a good screen cap of the lot of them and reported their fiendish behavior to the Mods. The holy punishment of the gods has struck them from our lands!

 

Mizuuma snorted as the end of Naito's PM went back into his ‘regular' speech. He mentally typed out a response as he twisted the paper expertly into a rose.

 

**[Mizuuma]**

I'm fine dude. Didn't even drop any of my valuable items.

 

[ **White Naito]**

I'm glad. Whare r u? Do you need help?

 

**[Mizuuma]**

I'm fine. Just trying to get my skill exp back to where it was.

 

[ **White Naito]**

I'm sorry I could help you in time

 

**[Mizuuma]**

I'm fine dude. Not your fault. Those guys were dicks.

 

Mizuuma exchanged PMs with Naito through the night, building a pile of origami sculptures beside him. It didn't raise any of his Skills but he did increase his Art stat. Still wasn't sure what that did but any increase was welcome news.

The sun rose over the horizon and Mizu bid Naito a farewell since had had to go to the potion shop to check on how things were going these past 4 days without him. He was so behind on stuff. Being locked out of the game on top of all the other penalties for death was really too unfair in his opinion.

The store was still closed when he parkoured his way over, gotta get his Acrobatics skill back up, he was on Intermediate Lv.9 and he really wanted to hit Expert soon. Mizu drop rolled off the rooftops and got a perfect landing in front of the shop. If anyone had seen Mizu was sure he'd get a perfect 10.

The sun had just risen so it wasn't strange the shop was still closed. Mizu went to the side door that led to Sethinel’s workshop, he had spare keys so he could get into the Alchemy lab but not into the store or the stairs going up to Sethinel's living quarters.

He got into the lab and started working, grinding both his Brew and Cooking skills as much as he could. He had to at least get them back up to the percentage they were at before he died. It was too annoying to think about how much progress he lost.

He took this chance to grind as many Skills as he could. He Freshened every ingredient in the lab, Preserved a bunch more, Brewed a bunch of Poison potions with flavoring AND hidden effects, drank them and Healed himself before he hit red (wasn't gonna take any chances for dying again so soon) and generally tried to do as much as he could all at once.

His Toxicity levels were currently at 30% which steadily dealt himself damage over time but helped him passively grind his Resist Poison skill. He’ll use up the poison inside his body once his Mana was running low and he could no longer heal himself. The fact that the Poison skill could be used on a Poison potion to change it from [Poison Potion] to [Potent Poison Potion] amused him. If he tried the skill on the potent potion, would it increase yet again?

He attempted that by brewing another poison, drinking it and allowing the poison in his system to build up again. In order to change a [Poison] to [Potent Poison] he needed to have at least 20% toxicity inside his body. It would be used on the potion using the Poison skill. So logically he attempted putting 40% into the [Potent Poison] to see if anything changes.

 

**[Potent Poison Potion] has become [Powerful Poison Potion]**

 

Ok, what about 60%

Mizuuma had to stop and heal himself a couple more times, having such toxicity levels was very damaging for his health. He hugged one of his dolls, the one that increased his Mana regeneration speed to make sure he had enough to keep himself alive. He hugged the one that raised his Health regen as well. His HP was dropping way too fast.

 

**[Powerful Poison Potion] has become [Puissant Poison Potion]**

 

Ok, how about 80%

Mizuuma actually nearly died again trying to get his toxicity up to 80%. His health was draining rapidly from the internal poison damage. The upside is his Resist Poison skill leveled up from the stress he was putting his body under and a couple of his stats went up as well.

A lot of Blessings later, he managed to survive having a toxicity level of 80% inside his body long enough to transfer all of that poison into the potion.

 

**[Puissant Poison Potion] has become [Persistent Poison Potion]**

 

_ ‘Pablo really likes her alliteration huh?’ _ Mizuuma thought to himself.

And that was where he stopped. There was no way to survive 100% toxicity without a team of Clerics constantly casting Blessing on him. His HP simply drained out too quickly. He leveled up a few skills and felt quite proud of himself for his progress.

He made a couple more of each potion and slipped them into a little belt he had tailor made for the sole purpose of holding them. It was a leather belt that had 25 slots to place the potion bottles into. It would have been impossible to put that many regular sized potions into it but the bottles Mizu used were more like thin vials so he could actually fit them all.

 

**Potion Belt**

Paralysis 3

Poison 3

Potent Poison 1

Powerful Poison 1

Puissant Poison 1

Persistent Poison 1

Explosive 3

Healing 5

Poison Antidote 3

Paralysis Antidote 3

 

Having the same potion effects in a smaller bottle was only possible once he hit Intermediate level in Brew. According to Sethinel, once he hit Expert he could bottle them even smaller. The higher potency meant that for a normal sized cauldron of brewed potion, he could bottle more potions per batch since he would be using more, smaller bottles.

Normal sized potion vials (meaning long and thin as opposed to the wide bottom traditional bottles) were a little over 8 inches tall and 2 inch wide (or around 0.5 liters of liquid or 2 cups), the vials he was currently using were around 6 inches tall and upon reaching Expert they could go down to 4. Mastery would allow for tiny 2 inch ‘shots' that could be thrown back and drunk quickly.

Being able to drink quickly was a big part of potion use in battle.

Of course, any person could bottle the potion into a smaller bottle but if they didn't have a high enough Skill level they would have to drink multiple smaller potions to get the same effect.

The different shapes of the bottle also affected things. The traditional wide bottom potions were good for displaying on shelves because they stood upright easily. Vials were easy to drink or store due to how thin they were. Round bottles worked best for thrown potions.

There were also plenty of other shaped potions that served other purposes. Little rectangular ones for stacking, artistically rounded bottles for people who want fancy looking potions...frankly most of the more interesting bottles were just for aesthetic. From what Mizu heard from Sethinel, the ‘pretty' bottles were just used so they can charge people more for a potion.

  


He confessed that he sets the price on potions via which bottle they were in because people unconsciously thought some bottles held a more effective potion than another. Mizuuma understood how it worked in a marketing sense, they could charge more for a nicer looking bottle by essentially tricking the customer into thinking it was worth more.

Sethinel bought bottles in bulk from the Glassblowers and also bought the empty bottles from Players who've used up their potions but haven't broken their bottles.

Apparently it was a strategy for some players to throw empty potion bottles at enemies. The glass would shatter and cause mild piercing damage and then vanish when the durability dropped to 0.

Part of Mizu’s job at Sethinel's shop aside from ingredient preparation and brewing was washing all the used bottles. Sethinel was thrilled to discover Mizu’s Freshen skill actually cleaned the bottles without having to go through the arduous process of soaking the bottles in boiled water to sterilize them.

Even though he wasn't on the clock as it were for his job at the potion shop, Mizuuma did his chores around the lab anyway. He prepared a bunch of the ingredients, grinding dried herbs and plants into powder to pour into the large container for each type. Since Sethinel had a real lab for this, he could afford to have large glass containers filled with all the ingredients so he could easily scoop out the amount he needed for whatever potion he had to make.

So many measuring cups and spoons...it really WAS just like Cooking.

Mizuuma filled the ingredient stocks back to full, both to replace the ones he used to make his own stuff and because it looked so much nicer to have everything fully stocked. As he worked he also decided to make more of the potions the shop sold as well. Might as well right?

Sure he wasn't being paid to do this but the skill EXP he was getting more than made up for it.

He hit Alchemy Intermediate Lv.5 and got a system notice.

 

**Sub skill [Resist Paralysis] unlocked**

**Sub skill [Shock] unlocked**

 

These new skills were essentially a paralysis version of Mizu’s Poison skills with a few minor differences. Resist Paralysis made it harder for him to get paralysed and also made his recovery time shorter. The Shock skill allowed Mizu to build up a charge inside his body to release as a tiny spark of electricity.

It wasn't very strong, about the same as a static shock, more startling than painful and it didn't even deal damage but Mizu was sure it would become much more useful once he leveled up the skill. He could generate a charge by rubbing his hands together but it steadily drained his mana to do so.

He really needed to find some way to raise his Max MP.

He started with 100 max MP. Each stat point in wisdom gave 10 points of MP. Each stat point in Intelligence gave 5.

So he had grinded his Wis and Int stats from hours at the library as well as spending his 5 stat points from level up to raise them until he had 38 Wis and 40 Int.

100+380+200= 680 max MP/mana points.

It sounded like a lot until you realized even the lowest leveled spells cost 50 to 100 mana for active casting, and most of Mizu’s skills were a ‘mana over time’ sort of deal.

Hell, **Bare Handed Fighting** drained 20 mana per second. That meant he couldn't keep that Skill active for more than half a minute.

Mizuuma sat down and looked over his Skill set.

**Singing** didn't cost any mana since the price was the user having to actually finish the song before any effects took place. Stopping or being interrupted would result in no effect or a debilitating effect as a punishment for Skill failure.

**Screech** cost 50 mana to cast and 5 mana per second to keep it going.

**Lullaby** , like  **Singing** didn't cost mana to cast but required him to continuously sing until the target fell asleep, if he stopped before the target fell asleep he would take a Skill failure penalty of -50 mana.

**Bare Handed Fighting** cost 20 mana per second as an Active skill. Passive use didn't cost mana but it wouldn't give him any boost to damage or speed.  **Bone Breaker** and  **Shredding Claws** both cost 50 mana to use per attack.

**Acrobatics** didn't cost mana since it was an entirely passive skill that depended on Mizuuma's own skill in it. Same with  **Tailoring** ,  **Cooking** ,  **Drawing** and any other skill when they were used passively under Mizuuma's own actions.

**Repair** cost 100 mana to cast as a Spell but didn't cost anything if he was manually repairing something.

**Blessing** cost 25 mana when he first got the skill but once it reached Intermediate level it cost 50 mana in exchange for higher rate of healing.

Mizuuma scrolled down his Skill list to check on them all.  **Preserve** and  **Freshen** both cost 50 mana as an active skill. All his  **Sneak** skills appeared entirely passive so at least he didn't need to pay mana to use them.

Using **Cooking** or **Brew** as a skill instead of physically performing the actions cost 500 mana and the results weren't worth it.

As he turned back to his Stats menu something caught his eye. Aside from the HP (Health) and MP (Mana) points he had a third one. AP (Aura) points.

What was this?

He checked and found his  **Aura** Stat which was currently at 3. Looking deeper into it he discovered that his  **Bare Handed Fighting** skill and his  **Killing intent** stat had caused the creation of the  **Aura** stat sometime back and he just hadn't noticed.

 

**Avatar** \- Mizuuma   
**Alignment** \- Neutral   
**Level** \- 13 **Race** \- Human   
**Class** \- None     **Title** \- None   
**Fame** \- 40   
HP- 850/850    MP- 680/680 AP- 30/30   
**Strength** \- 63     **Agility/Dexterity** \- 113 +2   
**Vitality/Stamina** \- 75   
**Wisdom** \- 38     **Intelligence** \- 40   
**Leadership** \- 0     **Luck** \- 16   
**Defense** \- 33 +4     **Offense** \- 38   
**Resistance to Magic** \- None   
**Killing Intent** \- 38 **Charisma** \- 25   
**Toughness/Endurance** \- 43 **Art** \- 68   
**Perception** \- 17     **Aura** \- 3

 

He had no idea what Aura was or how it was used. He suspected it could substitute for mana in powering his Bare Hand Fighting skills but he wasn't sure how to do that.

Something to investigate at a later time perhaps.

Anyway, the point was he needed to raise his INT and WIS some more so he could actually use his skills. Wisdom was harder to raise naturally so Mizu had simply been spending his level up stat points on in. Intelligence could be raised just from reading through books after all.

As Mizuuma tried training his Resist Paralysis skill by paralyzing himself repeatedly, he wondered if he might be developing masochistic tendencies? He DID seem to be putting himself through a lot of pain and damage just to raise his skills and stats after all…

As the boy spasmed on the couch in the laboratory (he wasn't going to just lay on the ground for this!) he wondered where Sethinel was. Sure he was incredibly early but he's been working for hours now. He tidied and cleaned up the workspace, packed everything away neatly. Sethinel still wasn't here.

Getting worried now, Mizuuma headed over to the shop door and knocked. There were two doors into the shop and within the shop there was a flight of stairs behind the counter that led up to Sethinel's home upstairs. The front door to the shop led out into the main street and was where customers came in. The door he was currently knocking on was the one connecting the shop to the workshop.

“Sethinel?” Mizuuma called out as he knocked.

No answer.

Getting really worried now, Mizuuma went back outside, locking the door to the workshop as he went, and went up front to look in the windows of the shop. The door plaque still said closed and there was no one inside the shop. He frowned. Where was his teacher?

He went back to the side of the store and began climbing the walls. Sethinel's living quarters were on the 2nd floor and he had windows, perhaps Mizu could get in through there? The boy tugged and pushed at the window, jiggling it until it opened. “Sorry for breaking in…” he called out quietly.

They were small windows, probably why Sethinel hadn't bothered to lock them. Even Mizu had to struggle a little to squeeze inside. He landed in what looked to be the kitchen area. He got up and closed the window, calling out “Sethinel? Sir? Are you in here?”

There was an uneasy feeling inside him that he was trying not to think about. He walked through the cluttered rooms but couldn't find anyone. The dread inside him was getting stronger. It looked as if Sethinel had been gone for at least a few days. The bed looked like it hasn't been slept in and aside from the clutter, there was no sign of a struggle so Mizu concluded that whatever had happened to his teacher must have happened while he was outside. No one had forced their way inside his home.

Mizuuma checked the icebox to be sure. Fridges in the game were powered by Cold Stones which were magic items that simply made the stuff around it cold. The boy opened the icebox to see the food inside, despite having been refrigerated, looked old. The leaves of the vegetables looked a little dry and wilted.

It seemed Sethinel had left his apartment a while ago and...never came back.

_ ‘Ok, don't panic. Think about this. Where could he have gone?’ _

The only thing that came to mind was that something went wrong during the exchange with the Thieves Guild. Perhaps those soldiers found them. Perhaps they caught Sethinel. But that didn't make sense. If Sethinel had been caught, wouldn't the soldiers also break into the shop to confiscate his stuff? Or break into his apartment searching for any record of his deals with the Guild?

Unless they didn't know who Sethinel was. He DID always wear that cloak that hid his identity.

But wouldn't they have taken the cloak off if they captured him?

What if Sethinel was dead?

Mizu whimpered. No. That can't be it either. Dead NPCs left a body for at least a little while, unlike Players who shattered near instantly. Well, depending on how they died at least. He heard that plot deaths or murders have different remains left behind. If Seth had been killed they would have taken off his cloak to check for an identity.

So either he was captured or killed and yet no one checked to see who he was, they DID check who he was but somehow couldn't recognize him or…

Sethinel managed to escape but hadn't returned home for whatever reason in the past few days.

Mizu held onto the hope that this last hypothesis was correct.

Perhaps Sethinel was hiding out at the Guild and couldn't return due to the danger. Still, what did this mean for Mizu? He could try to make it to the Guild on his own to try and see if Sethinel was there...but it was too dangerous if he gets caught. Also, wouldn't it be suspicious if the shop remained closed any longer?

Mizu unlocked the door to Sethinel’s apartment and went down to the store to open. He's worked here often enough he knew the routine. Mizu flipped the sign on the door to OPEN and set about making sure the shop was fully stocked and ready for customers.

It was still pretty early in the morning so he did in fact, open the store on time. Mizuuma stood behind the counter and wondered what to do. Will he have to manage the store all day? It would suck since he had wanted to go out fighting some animals to get his lost level back.

No. This was more important.

He heard the bell tinkle as a customer walked in. “Good morning!” He greeted automatically, his habits from his IRL retail job setting in.

“Oh. I'm so glad you're finally open. What's been happening these past few days?” The man, who Mizuuma recognized as an NPC shopkeeper neighbor, looked worried. Mizuuma pasted on a pleasant smile and bullshit through his teeth.

“Master Sethinel has gone out on a trip. He didn't intend to be gone for so long but something has delayed his return. So I will be tending to the store in his absence.”

The man nodded. “I hope mister Sethinel is alright.”

_ ‘I hope so too…’ _ Mizuuma thought worriedly.

\----

Running the store luckily wasn't as bad as he feared. He already knew how it worked, mass produce simple potions to stock the shelves, fulfill orders when a customer buys in bulk, go out to gather more ingredients so the supply doesn't run low…

He was running out of bottles. He was getting a lot of them back from the regular customers who knew to bring in used potion bottles for a discount on their next purchase, but it didn't change the fact that he was going to run out eventually. Mizu made a note to visit the Glass-craft Guild to buy more.

He also got to read through some notes Sethinel had lying around his house for more recipes. That was nice. He learned how to make a Healing Salve which was like a paste that can be smeared on a wound for a healing over time effect. Slower than a potion but they could be made even without all the equipment and were quite useful for on the road healing.

He even learned a new  **Healing** sub skill called  **Salve Creation** . It worked pretty much like you'd think it would.

Mizuuma tried out all the recipes that he found among Sethinel's belongings, even started organizing his cluttered mess of an apartment. Part of him felt bad for digging through Seth’s house and belongings but what was he supposed to do? Sethinel was still missing.

Mizuuma had started living in his teacher's apartment, hoping to catch him when he returns. If he returns.

The fact that law enforcement wasn't breaking down the door assured Mizuuma that he COULDN'T have been arrested...right?

And there's no way he had been killed…Mizuuma refused to believe that...

So Mizuuma had to keep the store open and wait for his teacher to return from wherever he might be. It was lonely as his days were filled with non-stop working. He slept on Sethinel's couch at night after his shift at the restaurant and his cooking lessons.

He woke dark and early, before the sun even rose so he could go out and gather as many herbs and other ingredients as he could. He couldn't allow the stores to run low. His Herbology skill slowly and steadily rose, harvesting the same things over and over did not give a lot of EXP but the sheer amount of hours spent searching and harvesting more than made up for it. His Perception even went up from his time spent squinting into the darkness as he searched for the herbs he needed.

He would spend the early mornings brewing up potions furiously to restock the shelves. Orders were still coming in, he had no time to go out hunting mobs or even continue his experiments. His Alchemy skill slowed it's EXP gain to almost a crawl but his Brew skill shot up and he managed to reach Expert level.

 

**Brew skill has reached Expert**

**Subskill Heat unlocked**

**Subskill Cool unlocked**

 

**Heat** (Beginner Lv.1 0%)

Generate heat to a selected object

5 mana per second

 

**Cool** (Beginner Lv.1 0%)

Generate frost to a selected object

5 mana per second

 

_ ‘What even does this do?’ _

Mizuuma had no idea what use this was until he discovered it meant he could heat a pot without a fire for cooking or brewing. The lack of flame meant he could bring a pot out of the workshop and continue brewing while sitting behind the counter in the shop.

He simply selected the [Pot] as the target for the Skill and the item would heat up. It was pretty weak in terms of actual heat and Mizu actually used it to boil water for tea instead.

It had started for fun. He was curious whether the herbs could be made into tea. He mixed multiple herbs and flowers to experiment with. After all, he had to spend hours behind the counter of the shop and would have gone insane with boredom if he didn't have SOMETHING to do.

As his skill level in Heat grew, Mizuuma could control the temperature somewhat. Generally it heated the item he cast the skill on to around the boiling point for water. His MP drained quickly. He couldn't hold the Heat skill long enough for potion brewing as he was now but it was perfect for boiling water to make tea.

A lot of his experiments on boiling herbs for tea didn't turn out all that well. He Poisoned/Paralyzed and otherwise dealt damage to himself a bunch of times. He healed himself with  **Blessing** so many times Pablo literally granted Mizu the Healing sub skill  **Cure** , which healed status effects. “ARE YOU PITYING ME NOW?!” Mizu shrieked up at the ceiling when that system noticed popped up.

They also didn't taste all that good. He trained  **Frost** as well by just making iced water which was cool and refreshing. It was great for washing his mouth of the awful tasting herb water. He felt like this wasn't what the Skills were meant for, still, it gave him something to do when traffic at the shop slowed down.

Speaking of the shop, Mizuuma carefully tallied the gold earned by the end of the day to split 50/50 between himself and Sethinel...for whenever he returned.

He left the pile of carefully stacked gold coins in one of the drawers in Sethinel's apartment. Everynight the pile grew and Mizuuma's worry grew with it.

Perhaps it was time for him to head out and search.

The shop was closed on Sundays so Saturday night, Mizuuma left the Inn after his Cooking lesson (as well as chatting with White Naito who had become a regular at the Inn and seemed thrilled to regale Mizuuma with his tales of dashing bravery loudly and dramatically) the boy returned to Sethinel's apartment, crawling in through a window expertly (after doing it for an entire week) and began his preparations.

He dropped off all his equipment aside from a new belt of potions that held twice the amount his old one did, his trusty scissors, a frying pan, butcher knife, rope and two stuffed animals that gave boosted Health and Mana regeneration tied onto his belt as well, toward the back so that they would be hidden behind his cloak.

Finally he stripped the pretty beads and wires carefully off his pendant, they could be reapplied quite easily later but for tonight, he needed it to look like a Thieves Guild amulet.

Mizuuma dropped off everything he owned onto a blanket on Sethinel's couch along with all his money. If the worst comes to worse and he needed to fight his way out of a situation or kill himself to prevent discovery, he didn't want to lose his important items.

Slipping a couple more potions into various pockets and newly emptied sub-space inventory space, Mizuuma put his hood up and slipped out the window of the dark house, climbing easily onto the rooftop.

He had spent a week getting everything at the shop running smoothly so there would be no suspicion over Sethinel's extended absence. The last thing he wanted was the neighborhood questioning where the shop keeper had disappeared to and thus attracting attention from the royal guard.

Therefore he had to make it seem like everything was going just as normal.

But now that the week was over and he had the next day free, Mizuuma could finally head off and get back into the Guild. He wanted to ask them what had happened that night when Sethinel disappeared. He was worried for his teacher, his friend.

Naito had noticed Mizuuma's worry a few nights ago and had PMed him about what was wrong. Mizuuma told him that an NPC friend had gone missing to which Naito had wanted to help but Mizuuma told him that he didn't want to worry the other NPCs as to his disappearance.

Naito was quite distressed but finally relented, telling Mizu to PM him for help if he was in trouble again. Mizu suspected the LARPer thought Mizu’s NPC friend had been kidnapped or killed. Still, Mizu wouldn't let that bring him down. He refused to believe Sethinel had been killed.

It would have been too depressing to think about.

Mizu ran silently along the rooftops into the night. He didn't fully remember how to get to the Guild but he had to try. He had to ask them. They must know SOMETHING.

He hoped Sethinel was ok.

\---

  


(A doodle of Mizuuma and White Naito)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I've got a Google Docs sheet with all of Mizu’s Stats and Skills which I update as she does stuff in the game. It helps a lot with keeping track of her progress while I'm writing.The only thing I don't have is the amount of EXP she needs to actually level up her character because I can’t seem to find this information anywhere. Also, sorry for being gone so long. Been busy with my other stuff.

**Mizuuma’s Royal Road Adventures**  
  
**-Chapter 10-**  
  
\----  
  
Mizu leapt across the rooftops silently using **Acrobatics** and **Sneak** in tandem with each other.  
  
**Acrobatics** was at (Intermediate Lv.9 74%) which meant he was REALLY close to getting Expert in that. **Sneak** was still on (Intermediate Lv.4 22%) since he hadn't really worked on it as much but now he was trying his best to be sneaky and quiet.  
  
He wanted to avoid a fight if he could. His character wasn't built for head on confrontations. High STR stats meant nothing if he had no attack skills. Plus, from what he realized when he had been killed a week and a half ago, he wasn't anywhere close to any other players or even NPC warrior types.  
  
So, stealth was the strategy here.  
  
He glanced around for any movement and strained his ears for any sounds, didn't want to get caught off guard again. He stopped on one roof and consulted his Journal for the notes he had written about how to get to the Guild.  
  
He checked his potions. His healing potions had hidden effects like Night Vision, Agility or Feather Fall. He even made one potion using JUST his origami animals as ingredients to create a Mixed Potion. He took the time to drink that now. He had continued a bit with his Origami ingredient potions and discovered a few new ones.  
  
**Gained Mild Camouflage for 5 minutes**  
**Gained Blind Sense for 5 minutes**  
  
Octopus granted Camouflage which was cool and Bats gave Blind Sense. It was super useful (but quite disorienting). He was going all out for this just in case. As a note, Dogs granted +5 temporary STR stats and Sloths had a debilitating Slow effect so he doubled up his Poison and Paralysis potions with Slow.  
  
He shivered as the Buffs popped up and took effect. He wanted to add in Spider Climb (an effect from origami spiders, duh) but he got a Skill failure in brewing so many times he was forced to give up. Adding Origami to his usual potions for a hidden effect was fine even if he screwed up since it only cost one origami animal. Making a potion entirely out of origami meant he used up the stuff he folded and had to make more so he was forced to give up due to the difficulty of adding a hidden effect. This Bat/Octopus potion was 3 Bats and 2 Octopus. Using origami as ingredients made for a very...odd potion. Tasted pulpy and gross.  
  
He felt his Perception get a 5 point boost temporarily. His Sneak skill also gained a temporary level. Mizu nodded to himself and continued running. He HAD to try and remember how to get to the Guild.  
  
It should be fine. He's been there a few times. He also has all night and next day to search. He ran across the rooftops and tried as hard as he could, checking his Journal often, to remember which stores were entrances. Luckily he didn’t run into any soldiers. Finally he found a shop with a bunch of gross, rusty looking equipment for sale. Mizu pulled his **[Concealing Cloak]** tighter around himself and looked around for any hidden enemies or soldiers. None.  
  
Praying he got the right place, Mizu jumped down and landed beside the shop, hidden in the darkness. The Blind Sense effect wasn’t like Night Vision that gave him the ability to see through darkness, instead it raised his perception to know where things were relative to himself. Miz could feel a person sitting inside the shop. He could also tell there was no one nearby.  
  
He knocked on the door, the pattern he remembered Sethinel showing him several times. The door opened slightly and Mizu pulled out his pendant. The man’s eyes widened. Mizu was quickly ushered in and the door closed behind him.  
  
“Gnosis. Thank goodness you’re alright! Gift feared the worst when you didn’t show up that night…especially when the soldiers came.”  
  
“Where if Gift? Is he here? Is he alright?” Mizu gasped. The man shook his head. “I do not know. He managed to get away but for whatever reason we haven't seen him since. He said there was something he had to do and told us to hold onto a package for you if you ever came back.” The man sighed. “Gift confessed to us that you are a Foreigner. He held out hope that even if you died, you would eventually return.”  
  
“....Well I did die...but it wasn’t from soldiers…” Mizu muttered as the man led him to the secret door. “Head on down, Boss has been worried. She’s been holding onto Gift’s package for you.”  
  
“Thank you.” Mizu told him before descending the stairs and going through a few tunnels. So Sethinel was alive...or, he had been alive nearly two weeks ago. But if he survived whatever awful raid had happened during the exchange in the forest, why hadn’t he come back? Where did he go? Mizu bit his lip and held back a whine. He was legitimately worried for Sethinel’s safety. Was he still alive now? Was he dead? Would there even be a way to tell?  
  
He emerged into the main cavern which was much less populated than it had been before. How many of them had been captured or killed?  
  
His pendant caught the light, still quite shiny from when he had cleaned it. “Gnosis!” Mizu squeaked when Boss rushed toward him. “You’re here! Are you alright? What took you so long?” The woman seemed so relieved. “Hi Boss.” Mizu smiled at her. “What happened 2 weeks ago?”  
  
She sighed. “Come, we can speak in my office.” the two walked off and as soon as the door closed and they had their privacy, Boss sat heavily on her chair. Mizu saw the circles under her eyes. “Are you alright Boss?”  
  
She gave Mizu a small smile. “I’m alright. It’s been difficult. A lot of our members have been arrested. I’m actually considering it’s time for us to move. We have members in another part of the city constructing a new base of operations for us. We’ll be moving in a few weeks.”  
  
“Good thing I came then.” Mizu groaned. “So...what happened? Where’s Gift?”  
  
Boss looked down. She rubbed a hand across her face and didn’t speak for the longest time. Finally she opened her mouth and Mizu experienced his first **[Cut Scene]**.  
  
_The moon was bright despite the thick canopy blocking nearly all light. Boss and 2 of her trusted thieves were in the forest. With all the raids happening every night it had become too dangerous to meet with Gift to make their usual purchases. The Messenger Owl had gotten a few notes back and forth so they could set up the exchange outside the city, it was hoped that doing so would give them the opportunity needed to make the transaction without risking an attack by the soldiers._  
  
_They were wrong._  
  
_The only reason they managed to get away was due to the explosive paralysis potions. Even so, one of Boss’s men, code name Mugwort, nearly died during the fight and retreat. Gift had been terribly wounded, not being a Combat Class and it was only his very own stock of Healing potions that saved him. As they tended to their wounds within the Guild, Gift had looked contemplative. Boss was worried for her long time friend but Gift wouldn’t talk about what was on his mind._  
  
_A day later, Gift disappeared. All that was left was a small package and a note telling Boss to give the package to Gnosis if he ever came back. That was the last time anyone saw him. They had assumed he went back home but a week came and went without any sign of him and they grew worried. Now, finally Gift’s apprentice showed up, as lost on where his teacher was as they were._  
  
Mizuuma blinked as the cutscene ended. Whoa. That...was so weird.  
  
He looks at the package in Boss’s hands. She held it out to him. Mizu looked up at her, taking in the tension around her mouth. She was just as worried as he was. But she had held herself back and waiting for Mizu to get here to receive his package. Mizu COULD have been mean and taken the package home to open but the fragile expression on Boss’s face was so...out of character for her. Mizu couldn’t help but ask “Were you and master together?”  
  
Boss blinked before laughing. “What sort of relationship do you think we have? No. Me and Gift are not a couple.” She ran a hand through her hair. “He saved my life when we were younger. That’s all it is.”  
  
Mizu was pretty sure that wasn’t the full story but accepted her response for now. He unwrapped the package. There was a potion bottle with a dark purple fluid that Mizu didn’t recognize, a letter and Sethinel’s Thief Guild pendant. Boss gasped at the sight of the pendant. “Why would he…” Why would he leave that behind? If not because he was leaving the Guild?  
  
Mizu picked up the potion and tried to identify what it was. It showed up as [??? Potion]. He couldn’t even see what the effects were. He wasn’t sure if drinking it was safe. Not here at least. He should get back to the shop first. He looked at the letter and opened it.  
  
_My dear apprentice,_  
  
_I do not know what has happened to you but as you are a foreigner, I can at least be assured that you will eventually return. I, however, will not._  
  
Mizuuma’s heart dropped. No. Please no.  
  
_There was something I had to do. I cannot let the Thief Guild fall. I cannot let them harm Boss. I doubt I will be returning. I am sorry I cannot help you finish your studies. I leave you everything I have. My will is enclosed here, simply send it in to the government office. My shop, my ingredients, my books, my home. I leave it all to you. I know you had your heart set on travelling the world, you can sell my shop if you wish. Everything I own goes to you. Do with it as you wish._  
  
_Sethniel_  
  
Mizu clutched the letter. No…  
  
**Quest alert: Sethinel's Will**  
  
**Description** : The Alchemist Sethinel has vanished. His Will has been made. The torch passed on. Turn in the Will to the government office to claim it.  
**Difficult** : D  
**Quest** **Restrictions** : High Friendship with Sethinel, Alchemy Skill  
**Rewards** : Sethinel's Home, shop and everything within.  
  
“F#$% you Pablo! I am NOT in the mood for this!” Mizu screamed, startling Boss.  
  
He rubbed at his eyes. Dammit. Boss gazed at him sadly. “He’s...dead isn’t he?” Mizu was about to respond when he glanced at the Quest description again. Vanished. It said he vanished. It didn’t say he was dead. It might just be poetic language but Mizu didn’t care. Besides, none of the guards had come to the shop so they can't have killed him and found out his identity. He scrubbed his eyes. “I don’t know…” he didn’t want to believe Sethinel was dead. There was...a chance right? Mizu gave Boss a weak smile. “Thank you...for keeping this for me.”  
  
Mizuuma took a deep breath. “I’m going to find him.” Boss looked shocked. “Gift’s...gone. None of my spies throughout the entire city have found any trace of him.” Mizu’s voice shook but he responded “T-then he must not be in this city.” Boss gave him a pained look. “Gnosis…”  
  
“I’m...I’m going to find him…” Mizu said. Boss trembled. “If you really want to do this, I won’t stop you.” Mizu nodded and got up. He paused. “Do you...want to keep his pendent?” Boss looked at the pendant in his hand. Finally she shook her head. “No. Keep it. When...when you find him, he’ll need it back.” She smiled. “Also, give him a good punch for me.”  
  
Mizu laughed, only sounding a little strained. “Sure thing.”  
  
His trip back to the shop was quiet. He climbed in through the window and wasn’t sure how to feel. He didn’t think his very first Quest would be something like this. Mizu curled up on the couch and sighed. “Seriously, f#$% you Pablo…”  
  
\---  
  
He submitted Sethinel's Will the next day and wondered what to do now. He had more than enough money to buy his cart. He even had all the supplies he needed. Miz looked at the Quest menu and scowled. He refused to believe his teacher was dead. It was just too unfair.  
  
Well fuck it, he was going to travel all across this damn game to find him. And then he would punch him. Miz sent out a general PM to all his friends, informing them that he was finally going to leave the city. Most of them sent back well wishes and encouraging messages. And then there was…  
  
“Y-you're leaving?” White Naito knelt before him, tears forming in his eyes. Mizu twitched. “Did you...run all the way here to find me?” They were attracting some stares as Naito was down on one knee in front of him, holding his hand with tears in his eyes.  
  
“Fair maiden, this knight wishes not to impede thy journey, but for this parting to come so soon…” Naito sniffled. Mizuuma rolled his eyes. “We can still chat over PM. A lot of my other friends have left the city and we only have contact through chat.”  
  
“Verily? Then you have no party with which to travel with?” Naito asked. Mizu shrugged. “Well, I don't really play the game like most of them do. Pineapple and the others are trying to raise their levels and discover hidden quests, Satellite runs a shop, Narcissa...last I heard from her, she was planning to contact the Unseelie court to try and upgrade her race type…” Mizu tried to remember what Circe and her werewolf friend were up to but couldn't remember off the top of his head.  
  
White Naito frowned. “But Milady, it is dangerous out there.” Mizu nodded. “I know, that's why I'm getting a cart.” Naito blinked. “A...cart?”  
  
Mizu smiled sadly. “My NPC friend left me all his fortune and items in his Will. I have enough to buy the highest level cart with Magical security protections and is indestructible.” Miz had been shocked to find out just how much money Sethinel had. Aside from his house and shop, he had a bank account that he'd been sending gold into for years and collecting interest.  
  
Mizu wasn't going to take that money. He was only going to withdraw enough to buy his cart. A cart with the highest security features so he could leave his stuff there and not worry about Thieves. Unlike Player Avatars that now vanish when they log out, thereby preventing theft of their held inventory, a physical vehicle like a cart wouldn't.  
  
Player Avatar safety was a little thing added to the game because of complaints, the fact that logging out originally meant the avatar would just slump over fast asleep meant a lot of people would be left in the middle of the wilderness and come back to find their body had been killed by a passing mob. It was incredibly stupid and no one liked that feature, the only reason it had been around in the first year of Royal Road's launch was because some other game, Sword something Online or whatever, had that as an immersion feature and everyone thought to copy it. Luckily, the developers of Royal Road weren't idiots and responded immediately to the Player backlash to ensure that logging out would grant Player safety. Sleeping in a proper bed before logging out simply granted a Well Rested buff. This was added in as an incentive for Players to seek out shelter and beds. And since the Player avatar COULD be debuffed due to Exhaustion, this put more incentive for Players to play immersively on their own and seek out beds. It was a much better way to get the players to be immersed without forcing them to do it.  
  
And for the die hard immersion players, there was a function to switch the feature back on if they wished for the added challenge. Playing like that DID add a little bonus to small things like EXP gain.  
  
Naito nodded slowly, a sad look on his face when he remembered how Mizu had said his NPC friend disappeared. If there was a Will then…  
  
“I'm sorry for your loss.” Naito said, speaking normally instead of the dramatic way he usually did. Mizu sniffled. “I...I don't want to believe he's gone. Maybe...he just left the city...so…”  
  
Naito blinked. “You mean, you're leaving to search for him?” Mizu nodded. “I know it must sound stupid. He's...just an NPC…” Naito placed his hands on Mizuuma's shoulders, trembling. “Not at all!” Naito's eyes were filled with tears. His lip wobbled. “You...you are on a quest to find your dear friend! A truly noble goal!” they were definitely drawing attention now as Naito began sobbing. “Fair maiden you may be frail but your warrior heart shines through as the sun dost glow even through the darkest clouds!”  
  
“....thanks?”  
  
Naito continued crying as he followed Mizu through the market to pick out a cart. It was a fair sized one. It cost a lot of gold to get it enchanted to be indestructible and have the highest security settings. Mizu felt a little bad to be using up so much of Sethinel's savings but it was for a good cause. He also got a space expansion enchantment for the inside, he needed a large area for his lab. And for anything else he might need.  
  
In the end he got 5 rooms inside the cart (plus the entryway which was the size of what the cart LOOKED like it should be, with 5 doors, two along the sides and one at the back). The Alchemy lab which would double as a kitchen, the bedroom that would double as a library and storage area, the greenhouse where he would try to grow the plants he needed if they were rare or he needed them more urgently and the last 2 rooms which were left blank for now.  
  
Mizu winced at how much gold this all cost. He mentally apologized to Seth.  
  
Naito stared at the cart. It wasn't nearly as big on the outside but it was a fair sized cart. “Milady, how are you going to pull the cart?” Mizu shrugged. “I can...get a horse?”  
  
“But that would require having a place for the horse to stay and remain unharmed.” Naito pointed out. Mizu froze. He was right. “Well...maybe I can pull it…” Miz pulled at it, then pushed. A few players around the market stopped to laugh at the sight of the tiny boy trying to move the cart. Miz sighed. Maybe if he raised his strength stat…  
  
“Milady, this knight has a solution.”  
  
“Yeah?” Mizu panted as he slumped over the front part of the cart. The roleplayer flung his cape out dramatically. The rainbow fabric shimmered in the light. A voice in the crowd screamed out “MY EYES!”  
  
“This knight shall come WITH you on your journey!” White Naito declared.  
  
“Eh?!”  
  
Naito turned to gaze dramatically off into the distance. “A noble quest is yours to find thy missing friend! How could this knight do anything BUT accompany the fair maiden on their journey? How could any knight stand by and let such a dainty child leave the safety of the city and go into the big, wide world all alone?”  
  
“Uh…”  
  
“Fear not fair maiden! This knight has sworn himself into your service! He shall pull your cart, protect thee from danger and smite all who dares to harm thee.”  
  
“Sure? But are you really ok with playing an escort mission for however long this is gonna take?” Mizu grimaced. He didn't want to cause problems for Naito. Didn't want to get in the way of his own playtime. Naito knelt in front of him again. “What sort of knight would go back on his bond? I have sworn myself to your service. Please Milady, allow this humble knight to accompany thee on this harrowing quest.”  
  
Mizu sighed. “Are you sure? Don't you need to go do quests and level up?”  
  
“This is my quest!” White Naito declared dramatically. Mizu laughed. “Well, ok then. If you really want to.” He straightened and swept his own cloak out. “Then come forth and kneel before me. Let it be known that I, Mizuuma, shall take you sir White Naito, by virtue of your honor, loyalty, valor and skill, to stand by my side as my protector until the day you wish to choose a new master.”  
  
Naito's eyes widened before a heartbreakingly eager smile appeared on his face. He bowed his head before Mizu “I, White Naito, do solemnly swear and pledge my life to thee, Mizuuma, to defend and obey until the time comes when you dismiss me from your services. My sword shall be yours.”  
  
A couple people nearby clapped while some shook their heads and muttered “Damn roleplayers.”  
  
White Naito gave Mizuuma a beautiful smile. There was a gratefulness in his gaze. Mizu got the feeling no one had ever played along and indulged him in this matter. He giggled. “Well, I guess I should go and move everything into the cart now.” He wasn't going to use anymore of Sethinel's money but he was going to get all his books, recipes and notes. It would be quite helpful.  
  
Mizu winced. He was going to have to close down the shop. He needed to quit his job at the inn too. He felt kinda bad. Naito summoned his spiritual mount and hooked the pale horse up to the cart. Miz sat on the front of the cart, kicking his legs as he typed out a few reminders and notes for himself.  
  
“We won't be leaving right away. I still need to send in my two week notice to the inn. Just quitting would cause trouble for everyone.” Mizu told Naito. The knight nodded as he rode his horse. “Of course Milady, I would expect nothing less. Take all the time you need to settle your affairs.”  
  
“And what about you? Don't you have your own stuff to do in the game?” Mizu asked. Naito laughed. “Nay, I am not someone who aims for the top. I am of a decent level and have now pledged mineself towards a truly noble goal of protecting thy fair maiden on your perilous journey across the continent.”  
  
“You know I'm a boy right?” Mizu sighed. White Naito chuckled. “Whatever your form, a maiden is still a maiden. This knight shall not fail thee again.” His tone became a little strained at the end.  
  
“I'm not mad that I died.” Mizu sighed. Well, not really. Part of Mizu was agonizing over the thought of having died and missed the fight in the forest. Maybe if he had been there...maybe Sethinel wouldn't be…  
  
Mizu shook his head. No. It wasn't anyone's fault.  
  
Mizu and Naito spent the day moving stuff out of the shop and into the cart. Naito helped with the heavy things like bookshelves and a few of the cauldrons. Mizu left most of Sethinel's personal belongings untouched. He did take a bunch of empty bottles and a few jars of ingredients. The Alchemy lab in the cart was almost fully furnished, with Alchemy supplies on one side and kitchen supplies on the other. Miz couldn't take the stoves, he didn't feel right doing so, so he would have to buy his own portable oven and stove top at the market later. And a fridge. Enchanted objects like that would be expensive. How much were Heat Stones and Cold Stones again?  
  
Mizu wondered if his Heat and Cool skills could be used for this. But it required Mana and he simply did not have enough. Perhaps he could learn to enchant items himself? Another note for the future. He started casting Heat and Cool on some rocks just to raise his skill level. Perhaps if he got to a high enough level it would unlock a Permanent enchantment effect spell?  
  
Not wanting to waste any time that could be spent leveling up his skills, Mizu attempted to practice Sleight of Hand to slip small items in and out of his pockets without Naito noticing. He was caught a few times but since this was all his own belongings (he legally owned it all) the knight was simply confused why Mizu kept taking things in and out of his pockets.  
  
At one point Naito dropped a desk on his foot when attempting to move it and Mizu had instinctively cast Blessing. Naito gave him a wide eyed look. “You're a Cleric?” Mizu shook his head. “A Druid?” Mizu shook his head again “....Paladin?” Mizu started laughing “Nope. I don't have a class yet. I'm trying to get Alchemist...but...as you can see, my NPC master has…”  
  
Naito knelt in front of Mizu with tears in his eyes. “Worry not! This knight swears upon Heimdall himself that he shall assist you on your quest!” Mizu patted his head fondly. “Thanks dude.” They continued moving furniture and items. Mizu was glad for Naito's help, no way he could have moved this stuff on his own.  
  
He wiped his forehead and sighed. The Alchemy lab/Kitchen was done-ish. He even got the bookshelves with Sethinel's books, journals and notes set up in the Bedroom/Library. He took one of Sethinel's desks and a few chairs, the couch he had been sleeping on, another table and some chairs to put in the entryway of the cart, this would be the dining area or a place to have guests sit down.  
  
He looked at the gold he had set aside for Sethinel from the sales he'd made from running the shop by himself. Well, he already took so much of Sethinel's gold. Mizu deposited the profits from the shop back into Sethinel's account. Once he found Sethinel and brought him home, he would give the man back his bank account.  
  
He was going to work on setting up the greenhouse tomorrow. For now, it was starting to get into the late afternoon. Mizu was hungry and exhausted. He put up a sign saying that the potion shop will be closing in two weeks, parked his cart in the alleyway beside the shop and invited Naito to come have lunch dinner (linner?) with him at the inn.  
  
Naito lit up at the invitation. His joyful expression reminded Mizu of a puppy. The man practically skipped to the inn. He really was like a puppy. As Naito got a table, Mizu talked to his boss about how he was going to leave the city. Gregory nodded in understanding. “We will miss you when you go. I'll work out the schedule and maybe we can have a goodbye party.”  
  
Mizu blinked. “You don't have to…” he hadn't expected any fanfare for him leaving. Gregory shook his head. “We want to. You've done so much for us. These uniforms you introduced have made us more popular than I've ever seen and you defended Marble all those weeks ago.” The man smiled. “You're a good employee and we will all miss you.”  
  
**+1 fame**  
  
Oh. Well. That happened.  
  
Mizu blushed. “I haven't left yet!” He rubbed his arm, very touched that the people here were so kind. Gregory was a nice boss. He was very understanding whenever Miz couldn't make it in for his shift (to be fair, he had been DEAD) and treated him and the other waitresses kindly. Working here was nicer than any other job she's worked IRL. The people here were kind. And when the customers were being cruel or stupid, Mizuuma was allowed to call them out on it.  
  
Sassing out other Players wasn't the sort of thing that got him scolded or fired. As long as he didn't start a fight he could say what he wanted. And generally, if a customer said something stupid, like ordering food that wasn't available, or causing trouble and being purposely disruptive, they were thrown out.  
  
It was nice. It was really nice. Mizuuma couldn't count all the times in the real world during her job when she had customers or managers that made her want to punch them. Heck, she got fired from a job for sassing out customers once. Which, to be fair, was her own fault, but when she did it at the inn, people found it funny. Probably because these were all people playing online in a game world. Mizuuma sighed. She wished the real world could be like this. A kind manager who cared. Coworkers who were friendly and supportive. Mizu knew they were NPCs and probably programed to be nice. But that isn't bad.  
  
He liked them. He was going to miss them.  
  
Mizu thanked his boss and they worked out his hours for the next two weeks for him to try and finish up his Cooking training with Rodrich. Mizu went over to the table where Naito was chatting with someone in another table.  
  
“-en the dastardly knaves were smote by mine hands and blade! Truly a victory for justice and righteousness!” Naito told the archer in the next table. The archer looked incredulous as he nodded slowly. “Ah…”  
  
“Verily, would thoust like to hear another tale of valor?” Naito asked the archer. He shook his head. “Look, I'm sure you're a very nice guy but I'm...not really into men.” The archer apologized. A waitress came with his meal and he took his plate with him as he changed tables.  
  
White Naito made an upset face. “I wasn't even-wherefore dost everyone regard I be homosexual?” Miz giggled as he sat down next to him. “I think they're mistaking your cape for the Pride flag.”  
  
White Naito gasped “But tis not what mine own cape signifies!” He looked incredibly flustered. Miz nodded. “Well yeah, your cape is a rainbow because it represents the Bifröst bridge, right?”  
  
Naito looked surprised. “You...you get the reference?”  
  
“Well, duh. You've stated that your patron deity is Heimdall, the watcher and gatekeeper for the bridge between worlds. So, it's obvious your cape is meant to be that.” Miz blinked when Naito took his hands and clasped them. Miz looked up at his friend who was staring at him with wide eyes filled with tears.  
  
“Thou very much understands me! Thou art the most wondrous maiden I hath ever met!”  
  
“I'm still a boy.” Mizuuma sighed. He was sure Naito was just saying it as a running joke by this point.  
  
Still, Mizu couldn't help laughing as Naito started talking about the quest he had embarked on to get the cape. Apparently there was a Player over in Korea who made beautiful rainbow fabrics that were sold in an auction. The items were passed around between different players and collectors until a few rolls ended up here in the American servers.  
  
“I did beg that gent for the fabric because I needed it to completeth mine own aesthetic!”  
  
Mizu sipped his mildly sweetened tea (grabbed from over the counter, one of the perks for working here) as Naito gestured wildly. Tiffany came over to take their order and giggled. “Are you on a date?” She teased Mizu who rolled his eyes. “Naw. Just getting lunch with a friend.”  
  
At the word ‘friend’ Naito faltered in his story and flushed. Mizu suddenly wondered how old this guy was IRL. “Well what would you like to eat?” Tiffany asked with a smile. “Beef sandwich!” Mizu cheered. White Naito looked at the menu. “A humble salad Milady.”  
  
As they sat back to wait for their meal, Mizu asked “So...why vegetarian inside the game?” He was honestly curious. He could understand people IRL not wanting to eat meat but this was a game world where the animals weren’t real. Sure the NPCs weren’t real either but they had intelligence and personality that made them seem like real people. Naito hummed. “Tis the principle of the thing.  I wanteth not to consume the flesh of others.” Mizu nodded. “Ok. You don’t have a problem if I do though, right?”  
  
He shook his head. “Tis alright. If thou wish to feast upon the beasts, that is thy own preference.” Mizu grinned “Ok, cool.”  
  
Miz had to go to work after eating so he bid Naito a farewell for now. “I’m going to be spending the next two weeks getting all my stuff settled here in the city before I go. Feel free to go do your own thing.” He told the knight. “Nay, this knight shall offer his assistance milady.”  
  
“Well...I’m not gonna do much except work, shop and gather supplies. It’ll be pretty boring.” Mizu told him. “I don’t want to take up your game time.” Naito shook his head. “The mere presence of your company is all the joy I need.”  
  
“Ok. I guess we can chat when I’m not working? But seriously dude, go find a small quest or level up your skills. Do something fun.” Mizu felt bad about making Naito waste his time waiting for him. The knight sighed with a faint smile. “Very well, thou truly art a kind soul, milady, to worry about thy knight’s own pursuit of happiness. I shall attempt mastery with my swordsmanship!”  
  
“I’ll PM you my work schedule later so you know when I’m free.” Mizu shrugged. Naito swept his cape out and bowed. “My thanks milady, this knight shall go now. I shall beest fighting mobs in the nearby dungeon.” He laughed merrily and left the inn. Many players stared at him as he went.  
  
“What a weirdo.” Someone commented. Mizu frowned. “He’s having fun with the game in his own way, don’t judge.” Another person laughed. “How can you stand him?” Mizu kicked his chair. “He’s my friend. Don’t be a dick.” Mizu paused. “Oh cool. So I can say dick?” He grinned. “Dick, dick, dick…”  
  
He went to the backroom to change into his uniform, muttering the word ‘dick’ under his breath the whole time. The Players stared at the door Mizu left through. One of them coughed. “Ok...they’re BOTH weirdos.”  
  
\----  
  
Mizu stumbled into his cart that night, exhausted from the day. Is it weird that his days in the game consisted of working?  
  
But…  
  
Mizu laid on the couch in his new bedroom with a wide grin. He had a cart now. A home. He was going to ask Naito if he wanted to get a room here as well, they could turn one of the empty rooms into a guest chamber...if he wanted...frankly, part of Mizu was still a little hesitant to let the man live with him. Even if he was sure Naito was a good guy, it just felt...a little too personal to ask some online friend to essentially move in with him.  
  
Aside from that…  
  
Mizu opened his Stats screen and checked his Skills.  
  
**Heat** and **Cool** both hit Intermediate and unlocked new sub-skills.  
  
**Resist Heat** and **Resist Cold**.

(Mizu got the distinct impression Pablo was expecting him to set himself on fire or freeze himself in the future and had given him these just as a precaution.)  
  
They worked exactly like how you’d expect them to. Kinda boring but they were Passive so at least Mizu now had permanent passive resistance against Fire, Cold, Poison and Electric damage. That was pretty fucking useful.  
  
A couple of his other Skills had gained some levels or Experience. But the main source of his proud smile was something else.  
  
**Cooking** had finally reached Expert level.  
  
Which apparently unlocked the sub-skill **Alcohol Brewing**. Which was...cool? Mizu had been kinda disappointed at first until even MORE system messages popped up, as if Pablo had sensed his dissatisfaction.  
  
Subskill **Candy Making** was created  
Subskill **Cheese Making** was created  
  
Mizu had stared at his GUI incredulously. What? A bit of search revealed that his **Resist Heat** subskill was a prerequisite for **Candy Making** so it had appeared when he hit Expert in **Cooking**. He searched around and found a link between his **Preserve** skill to **Cheese Making**. There seemed to be more types of **Cooking** subskills that had yet to be unlocked. This was all cool and everything...but Mizuuma had JUST wanted to make ramen.  
  
Why didn’t he get a Noodle Making skill?!  
  
Rodrich was very confused when Mizu burst out crying during their lesson.  
  
At the very least, unlocking multiple **Cooking** subskills like this had earned him a Title. **The Aspiring Chef**. Which granted a +5% boost to all bonus gained from Cooking and eaten food. That was also great, except Mizu wanted to be an **Alchemist**.  
  
Titles were pretty cool. They could be earned from all sorts of stuff. Frankly, Mizuuma was kinda confused he didn’t get a title before now. Pablo probably wasn’t sure what to do with him. The reason Titles were cool was because you can earn multiple Titles, the one displayed in your stats will be the most recent one you got, but that wasn’t what made them so cool.  
  
Some titles were meaningless words but some titles, like the one he got, granted in-game bonuses. **The Aspiring Chef** got him a permanent +5% bonus for all his cooking stuff. And if he got another title that granted a game play bonus, they stacked. Even if his stat sheet will display a different title, he still kept the bonus effect from his precious titles.  
  
Meaning that if you could somehow amass a lot of titles, you could boost your stats or skills in some pretty cool ways.  
  
So this was cool. But it wasn’t what Mizu wanted. The boy laid on his couch/bed and flipped through his Stat screen. **Acrobatics** (Intermediate Lv.9 89%) He paused and stared at it. He was sooo close to reaching Expert in **Acrobatics**. Mizu wasn’t sure what it would give him though. Heck, he wasn’t sure what to do with all his new sub-skills.  
  
There was another thing on his mind however.  
  
Mizu pulled out the mysterious potion that Sethinel had left him.  
  
**[??? Potion]**  
**Effects: ????**  
  
Well that wasn’t suspicious at all.  
  
Mizu stared at the purple liquid inside the bottle. He couldn’t figure out what it was or what it did and he really wanted to drink it and find out. Mizu toyed with the idea. It’s not like it would kill him for real, even if it was some kinda poison that killed him, he could come back to life. But...another part of him wanted to wait until he identified what this potion was.  
  
What if it was something important? What if it was a clue to where Sethinel had gone? What if it was a resurrection potion that would bring him back?  
  
Mizu didn’t know.  
  
And not knowing meant he was hesitant to actually drink the potion. Alchemists and some other classes could learn an Identify skill right? Mizu decided to hold onto the potion until he gain that particular skill. He really wanted to know what it was and what it did. Looks like he had something else to do in the future.  
  
Mizu put the potion safely away in his new desk and went to sleep. He had to log out anyway. He would deal with this tomorrow.  
  
\---  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As a note on Titles, Weed in the Novels got titles like Fighter who Enjoys Hunting, which raised his Fighting Spirit by 10. He also got Immortal Warrior which increased his skill Power to Reject Death by 10% upon resurrection, which didn’t actually say it ever had a cap so I’m led to believe it means that every time Weed dies, he’ll get ANOTHER 10% increase to his Power to Reject Death skill. Which is kinda OP as fuck. If anyone knows for sure if this is the case or not, please tell me. Regardless, Mizu is going to earn some really weird Titles once Pablo gets more used to how her play style goes.
> 
> (Edit)
> 
> Question, should I separate the game mechanic explanations away from the narrative? Like, put them at the bottom at the end of the chapter instead?


	11. NOT A CHAPTER

Not a chapter. Just a small need for help.

Ok, so I'm having trouble figuring out what each of the Origami animal's hidden effects should be. I've written down every origami animal I know how to make. (That I can remember right now) so you give suggestions for what effects you think they should have. And if you think some should be grouped together with others, tell me that too.

Also, these are still subject to change, I'm just brainstorming and asking you all for ideas for now.

\---

Cat/ Owl: Night vision for 5 minutes

Rabbit/ Deer: +10% Agility and jumping power 5 minutes

Crane/ Dove: Featherfall for 10 minutes

Parakeet: Singing skill +10% for 5 minutes

Fish (sunfish, sharks, koi fish etc.): Waterbreathing for 5 minutes

Seahorse: +10 pounds to Carrying Capacity for 10 minutes

Camel: Double carry weight for 5 minutes

Frog/ Penguin: +10% Swim speed for 5 minutes

Scorpion/ Snake: +10% Poison damage for 5 minutes

Panda/ Swan: +10 Charisma stat for 5 minutes

Octopus/ Squid: Camouflage for 5 minutes

Giraffe:

Dog: +10 Perception stat for 5 minutes

Jellyfish: +10% Paralysis duration for 5 minutes

Lady bug: +10 Luck stat for 5 minutes

Bumblebee: +10% Stamina for 5 minutes

Fox: +10% Stealth for 5 minutes

Sloth: Slow for 5 minutes

Butterfly: 

Spider: Spiderclimb for 5 minutes

Mouse: Fear for 5 minutes

Bat: Blindsense for 5 minutes

Cow:

Dragonfly: Levitation for 5 Minutes (stationary)

Turtle: +10% Defense for 5 minutes

Starfish: +5% Health regeneration for 5 minutes

Seal: +10 Charisma for 5 minutes

Horse: +10 Agility for 5 minutes

Tiger: +10 Killing Intent for 5 Minutes

Goose/ Chicken: (Potentially) Causes the drinker to be attacked by Geese/Chickens non stop for 5 Minutes

Elephant: +10 Endurance for 5 minutes

Lionfish: +10% Poison damage for 5 Minutes

Dragon: +10% Fire Resistance for 5 Minutes

Crocodile: +10% Defense for 5 minutes

Beholder:

Displacer Beast: +10% Dodge Skill for 5 minutes

Rowlet:

Rhydon:

Pikachu:

Jolteon:

Umbreon:

Bulbasuar:

Totodile:

Kabutops:

Kiwi:

And there are a couple more I know how to make but not all that well and some aren't animals so I'm not bothering with them...unless anyone thinks different flowers count for something?

 Proof that I can make them, and thus, Mizuuma can make them in the game.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry I've been gone so long. Got super distracted writing my GF fic. Have two separate crossover chapters being written for the future.
> 
> Question for my readers, should I stick with the information from the Novels or should I just starting making my own shit up? Like, even more than I already am?
> 
> Also, reminder that Zyun-Jan is a girl IRL and Mizuuma is a boy in the game. I know it's confusing but I switch the pronouns when I'm referencing stuff she did IRL and stuff he does in game.
> 
> Also, I realized Mizu had way too low health for his level so I changed up the math I used for calculating it. So now, leveling up grants +50 to max HP and MP, with bonus points depending on his stats. Vitality grants +10 HP per point, Wisdom grants +10 MP per point and Intelligence grants +5 MP per point. Does that sound better? I have no idea how the novel divvied out the increase to health and mana upon level up and Weed's stats are kinda bonkers and cannot be used as an accurate measurement of game mechanics.

**Mizuuma’s Royal Road Adventures**  
  
**-Chapter 11-**  
  
\----  
  
The peaceful morning was broken by a low humming as Mizu went around gathering ingredients. “Stockpile, stockpile~ S*** the blue grasses haven't respawned yet.” he sing-singed as he carefully pinched off clumps of colored grasses to put away in his bag.  
  
As he worked on his task, Mizuuma was manipulating his GUI mentally. He wanted to stop relying on spoken activation or motion gestures to navigate it. He also went through his mental checklist on things he had to do.  
  
‘I need to see about digging up these by the roots if I can. Maybe then, I can plant them to grow myself. But plants are gonna need sunlight. My cart's great but it doesn't have windows...shit. I'm gonna need to buy a Sunstone aren't I?’  
  
He hummed under his breath as he worked. It made the tedious work a little more bearable. “Damn, how early did you get up? You've already farmed almost the whole area.” Mizu turned to see another Player coming up to gather grasses too. “Morning.” He greeted. The other player nodded. “Good morning.” Whoever this other Player was, they appeared to have opted to play as neither male nor female. Even this close, Mizu couldn't tell if they were a boy or a girl in terms of physical sex. Not wanting to assume their gender, Mizu continued to refer to them as them.  
  
The two worked quietly for a bit. Mizu watched them bring out a small pouch and sprinkle the contents along the grass. Mizu watched as the grass glimmered and began to grow rapidly until Blue Grass was available for harvesting again. “That's cool. A fertilizer item?” He asked. The other player nodded.  
  
“It's faster than changing servers or waiting. I need this for a Quest.” The player shrugged, brushing back their green hair. “Server?” Mizu asked. “Yeah. You can switch Servers to see if the respawn is done there. Or the servers that have less people.”  
  
“There are different servers?!” Mizuuma gasped. “Wait, you mean like the overseas servers? I don't know how to switch servers...”  
  
The other player, nodded. “You'd need to mess with your account and change your location settings. It's annoying ‘cause you need to log out to do it.” they got up and brushed themselves off, an unconscious and unnecessary gesture. “Anyway, I'm on a time limit. Bye.” They shrugged and ran off.  
  
Mizu looked at the Blue Grass. There was still a bunch left after the fertilizer was used. He dug around carefully, trying to grab the dirt around the roots to remove the plant without killing it. He generally came out here in the early morning because he wanted to avoid other players fighting over the item spawn points but he was kinda glad someone else came today. It took a bit of careful stabbing with his cooking knife around the soil until he was finally able to slowly lift the chunk of dirt out of the ground.  
  
And that's when Mizu realized he didn't have a pot to put it in. “F***!”  
  
\----  
  
“What's that kid doing?” “She's dropping soil everywhere.” “Is that for a Quest?”  
  
The confused muttering followed Mizu as he walked through the marketplace holding a handful of dirt and roots. He hummed to himself the entire time. There was a thing she used to do back when she was in high school where she sang creepy songs super quiet under her breath and would watch her classmates look around wildly to try and find the source. ‘I wonder if I can do that here. It would be a fun way to troll people.’  
  
He began to very quietly sing a Lullaby. This skill didn't require mana so he just sang as he walked. The plant in his arms covered part of his face so he could hide his mouth movements. He saw a few people blinking as he walked by, but none of them succumbed to sleep. His skill simply wasn't high enough. “Someone's taking a train to the sleepy time junction~someone is so tired he can barely function~” Mizu sang. He was hoping to somehow trick the system into giving him Sneak experience for this.  
  
Sadly, Mizu did not get Sneak exp. He did level up Lullaby and Singing. He was so close to reaching Expert in Singing. Mizu stopped in front of a flower shop.  
  
The shop was small with several shelves lined with potted flowers and a kind looking Elf was sweeping out front. “Hello. What can I help you wi…” she trailed off. Mizu lifted the dirt covered plant he was holding. “Hello. I'm looking to get a pot for this little guy.”  
  
The elf recovered quickly. “Yes. Right. Please come in.” She led the way inside and began to pick through a pile of empty plant pots. Mizuuma took this time to look around.  
  
There were actually more types of flowers than he thought. He noticed they even sold herbs like basil and rosemary. Mizu checked the prices. Not bad. He could get a few for cooking purposes. “Ok, this one should work!” The elf held up a medium sized pot. “It's got some room for the roots to spread out and its very light.” She came up to Mizu with the pot “Only 30 Copper.”  
  
He handed over the money and potted the Blue Grass. “Cool, thanks. Uh, do you sell Sunstones here?” He asked. The elf woman nodded. “We have a couple in the back. Are you planning to start an indoor garden?”  
  
“Something like that.” Mizu put the pot into his backpack. Inventory space was amazing. The shopkeeper pulled out a tray of round stones with a stylized image of a sun on them. “They're 200 gold.” She said. Mizu winced. “That...is kinda expensive for a gardening tool.”  
  
She sighed. “Well ever since it was discovered that having a Sunstone granted a huge bonus against vampires, the price has gone up because of demand.” Mizu looked at his Stats to see how much gold he had. “Do you barter?” He asked.  
  
The elf looked him over, his clothes, his equipment and his demeanor. “Depends, what do you have to barter with?”  
  
Mizu took out an Origami Rose he'd made with some pretty colored paper. It was around the size of his fist. The elf “Ooh”ed at it. “It's pretty. What is it?” Mizu held it up. “It's a flower I made out of paper.”  
  
“May I see?” The elf held out her hand and Mizu handed it over. She turned it around in her hands. “You made this?” She was impressed. How did someone turn paper into a flower?  
  
Mizu shrugged “I just fold it.” the shopkeeper nodded as she turned the rose around in her hands. “Hm...well, as nice as this is, I'm only going to knock off 50 gold from the price.”  
  
“That's already quite generous.” Mizu nodded and reached to get the money. 150 gold down, Mizu whimpered as he handed it over. He also bought the rosemary, basil and...was that DILL? Yes! And mint! Mizu ended walking out with more herbs than he'd expected, including chamomile (thankfully much cheaper than the Sunstone). He hoped he could keep the plants alive.  
  
Setting up the ‘greenhouse’ room in the cart didn't take too long. Mizu sighed. This was...pretty nice. Having his own space to decorate and shape.  
  
It was like...he was actually moving out, making his own way in life.  
  
Unlike the reality of where she was still mooching off her parents because she just didn't have a good enough job to pay rent anywhere.  
  
Mizu sighed. Wasn't there a way to make real money off the game? He'd heard about it but hadn’t really thought about it. Well...he HAD been considering making origami in the game to sell. Perhaps jewelry? If he could find a way to turn them into equipment with special effects…  
  
Mizu finished setting up the greenhouse and went to drop off the herbs and other ingredients he'd gathered today in the alchemy room. Always keep the supplies filled. You never know when there would be an emergency.  
  
He set out to open the potions shop, might as well get as many sales out before it closes down. A lot of the usual customers were sad about the shop closing. “What's going on?” They asked.  
  
“Sethinel...sent me his will...I...don't know where he is...and…” Mizu looked down sadly and the NPCs made sympathetic sounds. “Oh no. Do you think he was attacked by bandits while on his trip?” Mizu shrugged “I don't know. But I'm going to be leaving the city in a bit...so...sorry.”  
  
“No, it's understandable. Sethinel was a good friend. I can see why you can't bear to stay.” The NPC man from the woodworking shop nodded. He bought a few healing potions and bid Mizu a good bye. Mizu spent his time in the shop trying to level up some Skills while he waiting for the hours to pass.  
  
Singing grew another level. Tailoring went up two as he experimented with fabric scraps to fold and sew down into origami shapes. It was an interesting experiment. Cloth sculptures? Was that even a thing?  
  
A quick check on his Skill list showed that Drawing was still Beginner Lv. 9 so he decided to finally get it up to Intermediate. He was curious if it would unlock any new Sub-Skills. He doodled a bit before sketching out a rough picture of Naito (rough because Miz wasn't all that good at drawing real people), giggling to himself as he did so. He drew Sethinel as well, trying very hard to recall what he looked like. It was difficult. He had a mild form of face blindness and it took a lot of effort to remember people's features.  
  
Still, he tried his best and felt an odd sensation when he looked at the drawing. He sighed and carefully put the image away, being sure not to damage it.  
  
It led his thoughts back to this morning.  
  
Different servers.  
  
So...potentially...there was still a version of Sethinel who was still around in another server. It was a weird thought. He felt blown by this revelation, but angry as well. He knew Sethinel was just an NPC but…  
  
And even if he went to another server, it wouldn't be HIS Seth. It wouldn't be his teacher.  
  
Mizu shook his head and went back to doodling. He pulled out Sethinel's letter and sighed. “Please be alive.” He traced the letters with a finger and wondered how the game developers had managed to give the NPCs different handwriting. Sethinel's script was a very elegant looking font face with plenty of thin and thick looping lines.  
  
Mizu took out a sheet of paper and tried to copy it but he didn't have much practice with quills. Satellite gave him a couple pencils but Mizu sort of wanted to learn calligraphy. It was something he never got around to doing in the real world. Who said you can't use the game to try and learn real life skills, right?  
  
In between packing orders and managing the store, Mizu went through multiple sheets of paper, smearing and splattering ink all over the table as he struggled to write with a quill. How did people make this look so easy?! A few customers laughed fondly at the sight of Mizu attempting to learn how to use a quill.  
  
After many failed attempts and looking over Sethinel's letter as a guide, Mizu managed to copy a bit of it. He got a System Notice.  
  
**Drawing Skill has reached Intermediate Lv.1**  
Sub-Skill [Forgery] has been created.  
  
**Forgery (Beginner Lv.1 0%)**  
Can copy handwriting or official paperwork. Higher levels unlock more types of Forgery.  
100 mana  
  
Mizu stared at it. What would this even be used for??? Well...maybe if he wanted to fake some letters or something…  
  
Mizu wondered if the higher levels would give him more to work with. He wasn't able to think of anything to use this skill for at the moment but he resolved to think about it later. If he could get ahold of official government documents…  
  
He spent the rest of the day practicing this new Skill as well as his Heat and Cool skills to make more tea. He stuck to using things like flowers and mint instead of the order plants and sighed in relief when this resulted in much nicer tasting tea.  
  
**Wild Flower Tea (Iced)**  
Durability 1/1  
A tea with a faint fragrance, brewed from wild flowers. +5% mana regeneration for 5 minutes  
  
Mizu could almost feel Pablo's exasperated confusion when he kept brewing different combinations of herbs into tea and heating/cooling them back and forth over and over again.  
  
Mizu got the idea to sell cups of iced tea to customers along with their potions. They enjoyed the different flavors and he could easy clean the cups with a Skill so he managed to make some silver off it. Hurrah for entrepreneurs!  
  
**[Sub-Skill Tea Making created]**  
  
Mizu laughed and kicked his legs. This was actually great. The Skill made it so his Tea gave more bonuses when drank, much like his other Cooking skills. But the actual process of making tea, despite being under the Cooking Skill, granted Brewing EXP and Mizu wondered how confused Pablo was.  
  
Still, tea was nice~  
  
_‘Could I make tea with potion effects? Or potions that tasted like tea?’_ He wondered. That would be cool. Mizu had been surprised when White Naito came in a little after lunch time. He offered to keep Mizu company during work. The crossplayer shrugged and accepted. He made Naito help out grabbing things from shelves.  
  
He was drinking iced tea and sighing in content. “Oh fair maiden, thy skill in brewing tea is most wondrous.” he cheered. “Tis so refreshing!” Miz giggled. It's a good thing peeing wasn't a thing in the game or Naito's bladder would have been in trouble with how much tea he drank today.  
  
He cleaned up the shop during closing time in preparation for going to his other job. He tallied up the money from the day, once more setting half aside to deposit into Sethinel's bank account.  
  
“To dinner then, Milady?” Naito asked as he watched Mizu lock up the shop. The shorter player nodded, packing everything away and slipping the key into their pocket. Naito was watching him quietly.  
  
“Tis admirable that thee continueth to runneth his store Milady.” Naito walked along with Miz as they set off. Mizu sighed. “I can't just close the store without notice. A lot of the general goods stores get some of their supply from us. The potions shops in the city are pretty spread out so we don't interfere with each other's business. Now that Sethinel's shop is closing...well, I need to give them this time to adjust.”  
  
Not to mention the rent. He didn't want to sell the store since Sethinel's house was still in the floor above. Perhaps he could rent out the bottom floor to someone in order to maintain upkeep for the building as well as the rent and taxes that need to be paid for owning this plot of land.  
  
There were more than just Sethinel's keys and bank account in his will. Mizu now owned his property and all property would be taxed by the owners of the land. Mizu was a little annoyed by that but he understood the reason. This shop was taking up space. If it wasn't going to be running a business then it was a waste of that space.  
  
He COULD rent out the lower floor for some other people who might like to start a store here. Mizu had already gotten a few letters for offers from both Players and NPCs who wanted it when they heard about the shop closing. He made a note to talk to Satelite about it. As a player who owned a shop, she should know more about how this worked.  
   
Ugh. Paperwork.  
  
As they made their way through the busy streets, the crowd got thicker and Mizu squeaked when he was pushed away and separated from Naito. Right. This was why he normally traveled by rooftop. Mizu grunted as he was bumped into again and again by players hurrying along and not paying attention to him. He nearly fell and was about to try climbing the nearest roof when hands slipped under his arms and he was lifted into the air.  
  
Mizu immediately stiffened and cried out in panic. “Calm yourself Milady! Tis merely me!” Naito assured him. Mizu calmed a little but he was clutching the Knight's hands and squeaking as Naito carried him up and shifted him into a bridal hold.  
  
Mizu blinked up at him. “Uh…”  
  
“This knight is most sorry for the treatment Milady, but tis more prudent to not be separated.”  
  
“...ask next time? I don't like being picked up suddenly.” Mizu muttered, still a little tense. Naito seemed to realize how uncomfortable Mizu was with being carried and nodded, a guilty expression on his face. “I'm sorry. I will ask next time.”  
  
They got to the inn where Naito placed Mizu down and apologized again.  
  
“It's fine...just...surprised me.” Mizu mumbled. He thanked Naito for the help and went to change into his uniform.  
  
Work was quiet in the fact that nothing of note happened and Mizu waved goodbye to his coworkers as Naito walked him home that night.  
  
“You don't have to.” Mizu pointed out. His friend shook his head. “Tis good to be vigilant.” He insisted, which made Mizu think Naito was probably just worried. That was fair. Mizu brought up the subject once they got to his cart. “If you're coming with me, do you have a place to sleep? Will you need to room with me?”  
  
Naito had gasped, turning bright red. “Milady, such a thing is MOST improper. I have a tent and bedroll, I shall be fine.” and that was that. Naito absolutely refused to share a room with Mizu. To be honest, Mizu was a little grateful. He did feel weird about rooming with some random guy.  
  
They parted ways once Mizu reached his cart and went to bed to log out.  
  
\---  
  
“Jiejie, you're spending all your time playing now.” Zyun-Jan's little sister (Zyun-Kei) complained. “I never see you anymore. You come home from work and it's straight into the pod.”  
  
Zyun-Jan winced. She did feel a little guilty for that. “Sorry Muih-mui.”  
  
Zyun-Kei shrugged. “Well since you're here, help me with my essay.” Zyun-Jan scoffed. “Is that all I'm worth to you?” She dramatically laid against the side of the pod. “Using your own sister to cheat on your homework~”  
  
“It's not cheating. I just hate typing.” Zyun-Kei grumbled. Zyun-Jan got up and stretched. “Alright, making dinner first and then I'll help with your essay.”  
  
“Can we make something besides ramen tonight?” The youngest sister complained. They ended up cooking some dumplings and then sat down so the oldest sister could type the essay as Zyun-Kei dictated. It was getting late and their parents still weren't home. That was pretty normal. They worked late most of the time.  
  
As the two got ready for bed, brushing their teeth together in the bathroom, Zyun-Jan asked lightly “Do you want to try playing?”  
  
Zyun-Kei groaned. “I barely get to play my own games anymore. I have so much homework now.” She thought about her Animal Crossing town that was probably overrun by weeds. “But I do want to try sometime.”  
  
“Well, you can play while I'm at work? If you finish your homework.” Zyun-Jan suggested. She wished they had two pods so they could play together. Sadly, they didn't have the money for that. Her youngest sister shrugged, not caring too much either way. The two parted ways, Zyun-Jan had been sleeping in the pod for the past few months so she could play while she slept and she HAD been planning to go back to the game to play some more but…  
  
Zyun-Jan went into the bedroom she shared with her sister. Zyun-Kei mumbled. “What? Did you need another pillow?” She was surprised when Zyun-Jan climbed into her bed on the side bunk. “Actually, I'm just gonna sleep tonight.” She said simply. Zyun-Jan laid down with her teddy bear and heard Zyun-Kei shifting in her own bed.  
  
“Good night muih-mui.”  
  
“...night jiejie.”  
  
There was quiet for a bit before Zyun-Jan asked quietly. “Hey, do you ever think about how archery is just dabbing before you kill someone?”  
  
“Oh my god why did you have to put that in my head?!” Zyun-Kei groaned. Still, she was laughing. To continue the trend of sharing random trivia, she commented “You know the English dub of Osomatsu is out. The yellow one is a care bear.”  
  
Zyun-Jan laughed.  
  
The two ended chatting about things that made no sense as they slowly fell asleep.  
  
\----  
  
“Are you alright Milady? This knight didn't see you for a while.” Naito's worried frown made Mizu wince. “I should have left a message, I had some stuff IRL to deal with.” Mizu explained. He sighed. “Hey Naito? How much time do you spend playing this game?”  
  
Naito paused. “Well…” he slipped back into his normal voice. “I sleep in the pod.” He admitted sheepishly. Mizu nodded. “I do that too.” He looked away. “I might be changing up my gaming schedule from now on. I don't want to ignore my IRL duties.”  
  
Naito was quiet for a bit. “Are you busy?” He asked, looking a little down. Mizu patted his arm. “Don't worry dude. I still plan to play and hang out with you.” He paused as he considered the fact that he and Naito hadn't gone hunting together before. Well, Mizu hadn't done more than just mess with the beginner move around the outside of the city. He didn't go out to the higher leveled areas.  
  
Mizu made a list of things he wanted to do before he left the city. He still wanted to actually damage the scarecrow. Well, soon he would be leaving his jobs so he'd be able to spend some time getting his personal stuff done. Ugh, still had to meet those NPCs and Players who responded to his Rent the Shop ad.  
  
“Wanna go night hunting with me after I get off work?” Mizu asked. White Naito seemed to bounce in place. “I shall endeavor to protect thee Milady!”  
  
“I'm not that weak. We're only gonna be in the beginner area…” Mizu groaned. Naito nodded “Very well, this knight shall only step in if it seems like you require assistance!”  
  
“Ok. I haven't really done night hunting before. This'll be fun.” Mizu grinned. Naito still looked worried about how Mizu fights since they didn't have a class yet…  
  
\---  
  
Naito whimpered.  
  
Mizu straightened from his crouch along the ground, dropping the rabbit carcass as it died and dropped a few items. He spit the blood out of his mouth and grimaced. “That still tastes weird.”  
  
Naito was sobbing behind a tree.  
  
Mizu blinked. “What? It's not THAT weird, right?”  
  
“W-why dost Milady use'ath thine teeth?!” Naito wailed. Mizu shrugged. “It's quick. Just a bite to the jugular and boom, critical hit.” Naito gagged. “W-would you like to borrow a sword Milady?”  
  
“...if it's that much of a problem, I could just...kick them to death instead?” Mizu suggested. “Punching something so low to the ground is difficult. Though I suppose I could also just hold them down and snap their necks-”  
  
Naito whimpered.  
  
“If it makes you feel any better, I won't be biting monsters like this. Mostly because I'm not sure if I would be able to break skin-”  
  
“This knight apologizes Milady but please stop talking…” Naito whined. Mizu blinked. “Sorry. I didn't realize it was this much of an issue for you.” now he felt like a bad person. “Sorry.” He repeated.  
  
“No, tis fine. I am simply...unused to your...combat style…” White Naito breathed carefully, still looking away. “Tis quite brutal.”  
  
Miz shrugged, pulling out a rag to wipe the blood off. “I can do something different if you want?” Naito sighed. “Do you have fighting methods that are less...bloody?” he tried to offer Mizu a sword again but Miz shook his head. “Number one, your equipment is too high leveled for me, number two, I have a bare handed fighting skill.” Mizu shrugged. So he wanted to train it up. He saw another rabbit spawn and took a deep breath before dashing towards it.  
  
The rabbit didn't even have a chance to run before Mizu swung out his leg and kicked it hard, all the kinetic energy from his run being transferred right into the rabbit in a vicious unarmed attack. Miz was strong enough now that he could kill rabbits in one hit as long as he managed to actually hit them. The rabbit let out a squeak before it was flung through the air and shattered. The item drops rained down. Mizu blinked before laughing. Now he wanted to see how high he could kick something before it died.  
  
White Naito was a little more comfortable with the lack of blood caused by this method. Still, watching Mizu brutally kick small animals was still an odd experience for him. “I can't tell if this is animal cruelty.” He mumbled.  
  
Mizu picked up some more item drops. “We're gonna kill them anyway? What's the difference between kicking them, biting them or chopping them in half with a sword? Or shooting fire at them and burning them to death? They were created for the purpose of being killed. It kinda sucks but that's what they were made for as part of the game.”  
  
Naito sighed. “This knight knows. This knight has killed many a beast during battle. But Milady's methods of combat are very...visceral? Personal? Brutal?” Mizu shrugged. “It's efficient.”  
  
“Getting so close to an enemy is dangerous, Milady.” Naito frowned. “Close combat classes generally put their stats into defense and endurance. Have you been doing that?” The role player was speaking more normally now as he tried to actually figure out what Mizuuma's build was. “And if you're an Alchemist, or trying to be, aren't they normally long range?”  
  
Mizu raised an eyebrow, pulled a vial out from his belt, holding it between two fingers and flung it out at some foxes. The potion exploded and the two foxes felt to the ground, twitching with the paralysis effect. Then Mizu walked over and stomped down his foot on their necks with a sickening crack. “Long range!” He said simply.  
  
White Naito swallowed heavily. He was starting to think his friend wasn't quite the helpless maiden he originally thought they were. They were very much a low leveled player but even if Mizu wasn't strong...they were terrifying. The game had violence, sure, but the fact that the short player didn't have any issue with fighting like this worried him. Well, this was a game, people could play however they wanted. There were even some players who liked to play as ‘evil’ characters.  
  
So it wasn't a real problem. It just took a bit of getting used to.  
  
Naito and some other players who happened to be out this late at night just stared at Mizuuma running around, punting animals. A few players asked if this was animal cruelty but some thought it seemed like a funny way to hunt mobs and Naito stared as an impromptu kick ball game started with various Players kicking the beginner mobs around.  
  
“This is so messed up.” He groaned. But at least this was a game and those weren't real animals. Naito jolted when his [Sense Danger] skill blared a notification at him. He stood up, drawing his sword “Hark! An enemy approaches!” He called out loudly.  
  
The players kicking animals with Mizu looked up in surprise. “What? Is something coming?” Mizu asked. They all cried out as the ground shook. White Naito took his battle stance and glared off into the forest. Something large was coming. The ground shook again. The players (most of which were newbies or other low leveled players) stared at where Naito was staring.  
  
A few trees were knocked down and a huge paw slammed into the ground. Everyone stared as a GIANT RABBIT emerged from the darkness into the circle of light that Naito was emitting around him, his helmet glowing brightly in the dark night.  
  
**[Titan Hare] has appeared.**  
  
That was the pop up notification.  
  
The titan hare screamed at them all. “Holy shit! Is that a field boss?!” Someone cried. Naito saw the hare crouch down and yelled “EVERYONE GET BACK!” as he held up his shield and activated his **[Defender of the Bifrost]** skill.  
  
The titan hare burst forward in a dash that was almost too fast for their eyes to follow. An unfortunate swordsman was smashed into the air as the hare rushed through where he was standing. The ground behind it was torn up and the attack rushed towards Mizuuma and the others. Naito screamed out as he stood before his chosen Lady, protecting her as he had vowed to do. He grunted as the hare slammed it's head into his Shield, pushing him back a foot even as he braced against the attack.  
  
“Holy ****!” Mizu backed up. “Milady! Run! I shall take down this beast!” Naito cried. He shoved the hare back and slashed at it with his sword, activating one of his Swordsman skills while aiming at its eyes. The boss monster shrieked in pain. “Go!”  
  
“Ah...I don't think I can…” Mizu winced as he looked around. The other players were beginning to freak out as well once they saw it. Hundreds of rabbits were spawning in and surrounding them. No. They weren't rabbits. They were Hares.  
  
Rabbits didn't attack Players. Every now and then though, a Hare would spawn that would turn hostile and attack Players. They were a rare spawn that existed mostly just to break up the monotony of grinding on beginner mobs.  
  
Now though, with the boss monster activating some sort of secret boss fight script, all the rabbits had been replaced with hares and more of them had been spawned in. There had been a rumor that a Rabbit-type boss existed but they hadn't been able to trigger it thus far. Users had found the Fox boss and the Raccoon boss but thus far they hadn't found the triggers needed to activate the rabbit boss until now.  
  
Naito glanced behind him. Aside from Mizu, there were 8 other players of various Classes. None of them were high enough leveled to survive this boss fight. They could probably fight off the normal hares but….  
  
Naito gripped his sword tighter. He had to protect them. For it was his vow as a knight! To defend the weak! “Fight your way through and get back to the city!” He told them. “This knight shall hold back this beast!” he turned back to face the boss. He could hear the other players launching attacks to break through the hoard of hares so they could get out.  
  
As Naito prepared to launch another attack, a potion was thrown past him and smashed into the [Titan Hare]'s face. The telltale yellow of a paralysis potion seeped out in a puff of smoke and the rabbit boss twitched as it resisted the paralysis effect. Naito gasped. “Mi-Milady?!”  
  
“Dude! This is my first boss fight! I'm not running away from that!” Mizu grinned. Naito paled. “No Milady! Please stay back!”  
  
Mizu held up his hand and threw another potion, a purple puff of smoke appeared and the titan hare screeched as the Poison effect took hold. Mizu's Poison skill was at Intermediate Lv. 2 so he had a much higher chance of inflicting the Poison status effect. His Shock skill was still at Beginner Lv. 3 so his chance for Paralysis wasn't as good. “Don't worry. I'm gonna stay back, but I'm not letting you fight it alone!” Mizu grinned. “I mean, I just found a BOSS MONSTER! How cool is that!?”  
  
White Naito snorted. He turned back to the giant hare as it prepared to attack again, he lifted his shield. “Very well then, Milady. This knight shall protect thee!”  
  
The hare charged, aiming towards Mizu since he drew aggro. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” Naito screamed as he planted himself in front of Mizu with his defensive skill active. The hare struck his shield with another powerful blow, forcing him back a foot. Naito frowned. His skill strengthened his shield against durability damage but even so, it took ten points of damage from both the first hit and this one. His shield had over a hundred durability but if this battle dragged on too long he would be in trouble. He slashed at the hare's eyes once again.  
  
“Hey.” A voice called out. The two turned slightly to see a Rogue and a Wizard. “Can we help fight that thing too? This is that secret rabbit boss that no one's been able to find right?” Naito frowned. “I will not be able to defend all of you. This knight had pledged himself in the service of Milady.”  
  
“That's fine dude. I just wanna record this to post on YouTube.” The Rogue grinned. The Wizard raised his staff. “I just want some of the EXP from this thing.”  
  
Or an item drop from a secret boss that no one had found until now.  
  
The four players suddenly realized this. What sorts of special item drops would this boss monster give them?  
  
They turned to stare at it.  
  
The killing blow usually granted the item drops. The Rogue was raising his dagger, ready to swoop in with a sneak attack for the kill steal. The Wizard was going to stand back and launch a powerful spell once it looks like the hare was getting close to death.  
  
Naito just prepared himself to try deflecting the next attack instead of blocking it.  
  
Mizu reached into his pouch and pulled out a small meat knife. “If anyone can get it's mouth open, I've got a few more paralysis potions and some poisons.  
  
Including that Puissant and Persistent Poisons he'd made but never had a chance to try out. The other members looked over. The regular hare mobs around them had been thinned by some other Players who had killed them as they ran for the city, not wanting to risk dying. There were still a lot but they seemed more for keeping the players boxed in than actually attacking for now.  
  
Naito nodded. “This knight shall try. Also, please focus on dodging as this knight will not be able to shield forever.”  
  
Mizu nodded and crouched slightly, prepared to jump out of the way if the hare managed to slip past Naito's defenses. The hare screeched and charged again, aiming towards the knight this time. As White Naito blocked this time, he wasn't aiming to stop the hare's attack. He deflected it to the side, allowing the beast to rush past him, aimed away from the other players. As the boss rushed by, he slashed out with his sword again, slicing a line across its flank.  
  
The Rogue attacked as well, stabbing into the hare's hunch as it skidded to a stop. “There's a recharge time between it's charge attacks!” He said before running back to stand behind Naito again. Smart move. The wizard charged up a fire spell and blasted at the hare's face, the flaming explosions going off right near its eyes. The titan hare screamed.  
  
Mizu (getting a really horrible, hilarious idea) ran forward while the hare was distracted and cackled as he slid a potion vial up inside the hare's…  
  
“DID YOU JUST PUT A POTION BOTTLE INSIDE IT'S ASS?!” The Rogue screamed in horror as Mizu ran as fast as he could back to Naito. The knight was twitching. “This knight assumes Milady had a...plan?” He asked with a strained voice. The wizard was groaning “I can't believe the fucking Devs included accurate anatomy!”  
  
“Of course they did. Horses have actual dicks and stuff too!” Mizu cackled. He'd seen them while passing the stables around the city. “Anyway, wizard man--”  
  
“My name is Bunks!”  
  
“--shoot your next spell right at it's ***!” Mizu laughed. Then he paused. “Really Pablo?! I'm allowed to say dick but not ***?!”  
  
“Check your parental features. You might have them switched on. There's a bug with small sized Avatars being incorrectly listed as children. The localization team is still working on that. It was stupid, since the parental features didn't stop kids from HEARING expletives, only SPEAKING them.” The Rogue shrugged.  
  
“Be alert mine comrades! The beast approaches!” Naito declared as the hare (somewhat confused at the pinprick it felt along its backside that didn't seem to be an attack) faced toward the wizard and crouched. Naito, learning it's patterns, planted himself in front of Bunks. “Stay thee behind me!”  
  
“Sure man, I don't wanna die.”  
  
The hare charged. Naito deflected once more before attacking. The Rogue tried to jump onto it's back to stab into it, managed three dagger stabs before he was shook off. “Fuck! It's too soft to grip onto!” His daggers had smooth edges, sharpened for quickness and accuracy but not for it's gripping strength.  
  
Miz was running forward with his meat knife, used for cooking, jagged edges for tearing through muscles, and sliced along its leg while activating his Dissection skill. He knew he had a one in four chance of scoring the final hit so he decided to cheat and get some item drops out of it sooner.  
  
His attack didn't deal much damage since the meat knife was more of a tool than a weapon but he did come out of that attack with a [Hare meat] item in his inventory. Nice.  
  
As Miz dashed away from the hare, turning around to attack again, he shouted “SHOOT HIS BUTT!!”  
  
“Firebolt!” Bunks shouted as another fire spell went off. The hare shrieked when it's bottom was singed and then it SHRIEKED when the potion inside it EXPLODED.  
  
Everyone stared as the hare began to spew bits of fur and blood from it's butt. Naito stared at Mizu. “What Potion was--?!”  
  
“Explosive one. I've got four more before I'm out.” Mizu shook his hands, staring at the hare as it turned and aimed at whoever had last dealt it damage...which the AI interpreted as Bunks. Naito positioned himself once again. “This knight shall have to find a blacksmith once this for hast been slain.” he grumbled. Deflecting had dropped the durability damage down to just two points but he would still need to get it repaired.  
  
The Rogue laughed. “I like the way you do stuff, kid. After this, you maybe wanna party sometime?” Mizu shrugged. “I'm gonna be busy with work and I'm leaving the city in a week. But if you wanna send a PM to see when I'm free--”  
  
The hare charged again. Naito grunted and deflected it again. “This beast is persistent!” He slashed at it again and it fell to its side as Naito finished off It's first health bar. As it thrashed on the ground, the rogue and wizard attacked its belly. Naito ran up to strike in a flurry of blows, wanting to whittle down Its health before it finished the animation before its 2nd stage. Miz tried to get near its mouth as it screamed and threw his strongest poison potion.  
  
Sadly he missed getting it in the hare's mouth but he did land it on its face. The boss shrieked at all the attacks it was taking and its eyes were...finally blinded from the poison sinking in. Poison effects dealt damage over time, the Persistent Poison was more powerful than the regular poison and had a higher DPS. The titan hare stood up, shuddering as the poison effect continued to ravage it. Mizu grinned as his skill levels gained EXP. They all ran back to hide behind Naito as the boss stood up.  
  
He readied his shield but everyone soon realized their mistake. With one health bar down, the boss was on its 2nd phase attack pattern. Instead of charging, the boss jumped high into the air. Naito's eyes widened. “RUN!!” He screamed as they all darted out of the way.  
  
The rogue used a Dash skill to get away, Mizu relied on his Agility and Dodge skills, Naito's higher overall stats made him fast enough to escape as well.  
  
The wizard? Not so much.  
  
“AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!” He screamed as the hare landed on him. His health slid down to the red in an instant. Mizu was already rapid fire casting Blessing. He almost didn't make it. The full damage, even with multiple healing spells, was far greater than Bunks’ max health was. Even so, his health was yellow when Mizu ran out of mana. “My mana's out!” Mizu told his temporary party.  
  
“Fuck a duck!” The Rogue (whom Mizu still hadn't learned the name of) cursed. Mizu tried to pull out one of his mana potions but realized he hadn't made any for today and cried “Frickin’ fracker frass!” before he equipped one of the stuffed animals that raised his Mana Regeneration. Thank Pablo that Dodge was a passive skill.  
  
The wizard grimaced. The rogue ran up to stab it in a flurry of blows. Naito swung out with a glowing sword attack that looked pretty cool, bits of lightning crackling around his blade. Mizu ran over to shove a Healing potion down Bunks’ throat. “Don't know how much good this'll do when one hit is enough to kill you.”  
  
The hare was shaking, Mizu could tell it was still poisoned. The hare was trying to figure out who to attack next but its eyes being taken out waz making it difficult, for both it and them. They had no idea where it would be attacking now.  
  
The hare leaped into the air again, Mizu pulled Bunks to his feet. The rogue and Naito ran. Mizu saw that it wasn't going to land on him and Bunks so at least they had that going for them.  
  
The hare landed with a ground shaking thud. It didn't manage to hit anyone this time. Naito and Bunks immediately attacked it. The rogue was running around to it's back to go for a sneak attack. Mizu tried to throw a paralysis potion into its mouth. He hit this time.  
  
The hare shuddered and fell it its side. Everyone attacked in earnest. Mizu ran up with his knife to attempt another Dissection. His MP wasn't much but he physically aimed for the stomach, doing this attack manually. He stabbed in and began sawing at the soft flesh, cutting it open. Trying to at least. The hare had really thick fur that made it difficult to hack through. Mizu mentally looked through his Skills for anything that might help.  
  
His Bone Breaker and Shredding Claw skills could be used with either mana or aura. He still didn't know what that was yet (probably a component of a Monk's skill tree) but he had 30 aura and it cost 10 aura to use one of his Bare Hand Fighting moves.  
  
The hare was still paralyzed (he really needed to train his Shock skill some more, paralysis was OP as fuck) so everyone could continue attacking. Mizu raised a hand, curved his fingers into a claw-like position and slashed at the belly with Shredding Claws. He managed to make a gash. It was small, just a line of red. But that was all he needed.  
  
Mizu stabbed his knife back in and cut along that line. The hare SCREAMED.  
  
The rogue and Naito were slashing at it. The rogue was aiming for it's legs, going for a Cripple attack. The wizard stood far in the back and shot more fire spells. Mizu had both hands on his knife as he carved into the belly, sawing the blade back and forth. Dissection allowed you to pierce through natural armor (skin, scales, etc) so he was finally making some headway. Blood began spilling out. Naito paled and looked a little sick. The rogue stared. “Holy fuck?!”  
  
“Uuuurgh!” Mizu grunted as he pulled the knife in and out, serrated edges cutting through and widening the gash, more blood flowing out. His knife shattered as its durability was worn down. “****!!” Mizu growled.  
  
Unwilling to let this be the end, he stuck his hands right into the bloody wound and pulled it open. Naito gagged as he caught an rueful of the innards, twitching and pulsing. Mizu was covered in blood by this point but he didn't care. The rogue was staring in fascinated horror. “Dude, that's metal as shit.”  
  
The hare was starting to get over it's paralysis, twitching and kicking as it tried to get up. Mizu scowled, he was running out of time. He still had to...wait. He could just do this.  
  
Everyone's jaws dropped when Mizu pulled at the opening in the hare's belly and climbed inside, squeezing into the small hole. It was incredibly hot and sticky and gross and it smelled awful but Mizu shoved his way in and pulled out another knife. He could hear a muffled “OH MY GOD MILADY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” from Naito outside.  
  
Mizu just stabbed at the nearest organ, gagging as it spewed bile everywhere. Ok. Yeah. This was disgusting. Ugh. He was soaked through with blood, pus and whatever else was in here. Definitely needed to get a bath after this. He couldn't see all that well but he knew where he'd put his potions so he reached down blindly, slipping as the blood made his hands too slick to really hold one properly, and pulled out what he hoped was another poison potion.  
  
He popped the corked lid and just allowed it to pour out everywhere. The entire area around him shuddered and clenched. Ow. Ok. That actually hurt. He felt the hare thrashing around but couldn't see anything. He stabbed forward blindly with his straight edged knife. He kinda hoped he didn't pierce the bladder or stomach. Getting covered in stomach acids or urine was an awful thought.  
  
He gagged. Ugh. This was so disgusting! Why had he thought it would be a good idea? He felt the hare leap into the air and paled. Would the impact hit in here too? He wrapped his arms around some organs and held on tight, hoping to keep himself stabilized enough that he wouldn't be flung back out or get crushed.  
  
BAM!  
  
Mizu shuddered. Ow. Ok. It still hurt. It only did 30 damage though, much less than actually being hit with the real attack would be. He continued stabbing at it. He even got a notification that he'd received a **[Pile of Innards]** so...yay? Part of him wished he could see what was going on but it was dark and he couldn't see anything.  
  
He saw his Poison and Dissect skills gaining EXP though. That was good. In fact Dissect was Beginner Lv. 9 80% so he would be leveling up soon. Cool. He hoped it gave him a new Skill. He heard muffled yells from Naito. Ugh. Mizu mentally opened his PMs and just fired off a message.  
  
**[Mizuuma]**  
Yo dude. I'm fine. Just focus on killing this thing.  
  
He took his own advice and stabbed it with his knife again. His MP had recovered around 60 points but it wasn't enough to launch a proper skill attack. Regardless, stabbing at its organs from the inside was dealing critical hits, even if his knife wasn't very strong. The problem here was that he was running out of air.  
  
_’Augh! I should have brought one of my water breathing potions!’_ Not that this was water but…  
  
Mizu kicked, trying to open the entrance he used to climb in here so he could get some fresh air. It sucked in here! He was slowly suffocating and this was SO not a good idea! He reached for another poison potion, wanting to get this over with so he could just leave. He poured out another potion, to the rapid spasms of the slick flesh around him and managed to kick his leg into the opening, letting in cold air.  
   
He gasped and squeaked as he lost his grip on the slippery surface and slid out with a stream of blood, he grabbed for anything to hold onto and ended up pulling out some of the intestines along with him. The hare shrieked in pain again, a quick look showed it was on its last health bar. He was tossed away as the hare kicked, grazing him lightly but still dealing a solid 100 damage. “****!” Mizu tumbled, managing to keep his grip on the squishy flesh.  
  
White Naito looked absolutely horrified. “What are you doing Milady?!”  
  
“I'm dealing damage!” Mizu scrambled to his feet, wincing in pain and gave the organs a hard tug. “It's super cool that the Devs actually had something like this implemented!” He was forced to dodge out of the way when the hare leaped forward, biting down on where he had been. “What'd I miss while I was in there?” Mizu asked.  
  
He saw that everyone was looking a little worse for the wear. The rogue was bleeding from a nasty gash along his side and Naito had numerous scratches along his armor. The wizard was nowhere to be seen.  
  
“Is that guy--” Mizu didn't get to finish asling before Naito screamed “MOVE!” And the three of them were forced to dodge as the titan hare swept its paw across the ground, tearing up the grass. Mizu's Acrobatics skill allowed him to jump over it, dropping the small intestines in his grip. Naito looked a little green. “The realism it TOO HIGH!” He wailed.  
  
“Just kill it!” The rogue shouted back as he ran up the length of the hare's arm to stab it in the face. “We can launch a complaint with the Devs about the gore later!”  
  
It was a very weird boss fight, Mizu decided. Between Naito's tanking, the rogue's sneak attack critical hits and Mizu's poison potions shoved into inappropriate orifices (“SURPRISE BUTT SEX!”) they managed to kill the boss. Mizu snuck in a use of Dissect twice more and at one point he jumped over an arm swipe by doing a panic filled back flip and got a notification that he'd leveled up his Acrobatics skill to Expert.  
  
**[Sub Skill: Distraction Dance learned]**  
  
Distraction Dance appeared to be a skill for calling aggro while dodging the attacks that came his way. It was more like…’Woo! Attack me~psych!’ kinda thing. Mizu figured it would be useful if he raised Dodge some more.  
  
Mizu stared at the notification, scrolling through the system notices as the three of them tried to catch their breath. The Titan Hare faded away after the rogue dealt the final blow. Mizu wouldn't lie and say he wasn't a little sad that he didn't get the last attack in but some of the notifications more than made up for whatever rare item the rogue might have gotten.  
  
**[Dissect has reached Intermediate]**  
**[Sub Skill: Injection learned]**  
  
Where Dissect was taking things out of mobs, Injection was putting stuff inside them. Mizu allowed a slow smile to spread across his face. So...he would...say...be able to put the explosive potion inside a mob via this skill instead of having to capture and feed it to them. Or stick a bomb inside them. Or directly poisoning them. Heck, he needed to mess with this skill some more, see how it really worked. It looked like he could only put liquid substances and tiny objects inside someone at the moment. So the liquid from a potion or poison would definitely be a valid input. Injection cost 100 mana to use.  
  
He also grew 4 levels from the EXP the boss gave. That was pretty cool. He divvied out points to Wisdom and Intelligence before looking at the last 5 stat points. Eh...which one to raise? He looked at his Aura stat. It sat at a measly 3 right now. He couldn't put points in it though. Eh…  
  
Mizu tabbed open a forum page to search for that. Aura...aura...OH. As he thought, it was a stat normally found in Monk and Martial Artist builds. He must have gotten it from Bare Handed Fighting. Er...so this was one of those stats that could only be raised by actually using his Bare Handed Fighting skills and using up his Aura points (AP) to activate his attack skills during battle. That was annoying but easily worked around. He just needed to use Bone Breaker and Shredding Claws more often.  
  
Mizu scrolled around to see which stat he could spend the points in. Perception? Maybe. Endurance? No he couldn't put points in that. Same for Art, which needed him to actively do art to raise it. Same with Killing Intent. Oh, he could raise Charisma? Not sure what that did...but having NPCs like him more could he useful. Especially if he was going to be asking around for information. Alright then.  
  
Mizu placed 5 stat points in Charisma, putting it at 30. He looked at his current stats.

Avatar- Mizuuma  
Alignment- Neutral  
Level- 17    Race- Human  
Class- None    Title- The Aspiring Chef  
Fame- 41  
HP- 1650/1650    MP- 1605/1605    AP- 30/30  
Strength- 63    Agility/Dexterity- 113 +2  
Vitality/Stamina- 75    Wisdom- 48        Intelligence- 45  
Leadership- 0        Luck- 16  
Defense- 33 +4        Offense- 38  
Resistance to Magic- None  
Resistance to Poison- 6.25%    Resistance to Paralysis- 0.63%  
Resistance to Heat- 0.11%    Resistance to Cold- 0.11%  
Killing Intent- 38    Charisma- 30  
Toughness/Endurance- 43    Art- 68  
Perception- 23    Aura- 3

Hm...he should really get better armor. His cloth tunic and cloth pants granted a +2 Defense each and his shoes gave him +2 Agility, but that was pretty much shit armor. Well, he needed something lightweight since he was gonna be doing a lot of dodging and jumping so he could only get cloth and leather armies anyway…

  
_'I should get steel toed boots at least. If I'm gonna be kicking my enemies and all…’_  
  
Mizu turned to the rogue. “So what did it drop?” The rogue was staring in front of him at his own screen. “Eh...a bunch of meat, some pelt, some teeth and...a Hare's Foot item. Seems to be equip-able. Stats aren't all that impressive. Just seems like the Rabbit's Foot luck item but much stronger. I mean, it's good if you're a Luck based character...wait...there's a hidden effect that I can't read…”  
  
The rogue frowned. “Damn, gonna need to get this Appraised for that.” Mizu glanced over “So...do you not want it~?”  
  
The rogue laughed. “Nice try kid. This is still mine.” he straightened out and staggered back to the city. “This was fun. We should party again someday. You're frickin’ insane.” He waved lazily.  
  
“Wait! What's your name?” Mizu asked. He was typing out a friend request already. “It's Sora. Hit me up if you guys want to try this secret boss again.”  
  
As the rogue walked off, Mizu turned to Naito and grinned. “So. That was exciting.” his friend sighed. “That was the most horrifying things I've ever seen.”  
  
Mizu giggled, wiping blood off himself. A lot of it was dried by now. Hm. He heard there was a public bathhouse in the city. Been meaning to check that out. “If I had light in there I could have crawled up and tried to do the chest burster scene from Alien.”  
  
White Naito made a distressed sound. “I'm starting to think one of the Dev team might have been a fan of that movie…”  
  
“Or T _he Thing_. Aw man, wouldn't that be terrifying?” Mizu started walking back to the city. White Naito sighed. “Milady, the more I learn about your taste in movies, the more terrified I am.” Mizu laughed. “I like horror movies. I'm terrified and can't go to the bathroom by myself for weeks afterwards, but I like them.”  
  
The two walked back to the city, earning some stares at all the blood coating Mizu's clothes and skin. “Excuse me, do you know where the public baths are?” Mizu asked one of the city guards. The woman in full plate mail stared before pointing off. “Head south and take a right.”  
  
“Thank you ma'am!” Mizu said cheerfully before skipping off. Naito sighed. “So, tis might be too much to asketh but can thee not crawleth inside the boss's body the next timeth we face one?”  
  
“I will not make that my first course of action but if it happens…” Mizu cackled evilly. Naito sighed but ultimately smiled. “You are a very interesting player Milady.”  
  
Mizu shrugged. “I just wanna play the game in a way where I'm having fun.” the knight player laughed softly. “An admirable ambition. So Milady is going to bathe now?”  
  
“Yeah, need to get this blood off. Plus I kinda wanna see what baths in the game are like.” Mizu bounced cheerfully in place. Naito looked up at the building as they neared. “Perhaps I too, shall take this time to clean mine own body. Tis been a while.”  
  
The two entered and walked off to the changing rooms after paying a small fee (10 silver) and getting changed into the bathing suits. The game didn't allow for true nudity except in certain inns and 18+ locations. Mizu was a little embarrassed to go shirtless so he kept on a thin bathing tunic. His clothes were all placed into a bin that would return them fully cleaned and repaired.  
  
He walked out to the bathing area and sat down on a stool under a faucet of hot water. Ahh~this felt so nice~  
  
Mizu was lathering up the soap to scrub over himself when he heard the door slide open and Naito walked in before squeaking. “M-milady! What are you doing in the men’s bathroom?” Mizu shrugged, ducking his head under the faucet to try and scrub the blood out. “Because I’m a guy?” And really, he wondered how many other cross-players there were out there? He was certain there were plenty of guys who played as a female avatar just so they could look at themselves naked. He heard Naito sputter and finally lifted his head to look at his friend.  
  
White Naito was covering his bare chest with his arms, shyly shuffling over to the stools. “Ah…” he flushed. “Right. Yes. But.” he turned on his own faucet of hot water. “Sorry, I… wasn’t actually expecting…” Naito glanced over at Mizu, relaxing when he saw that the crossplayer was wearing a tunic. “It is improper for milady to see this knight unclothed. And for this knight to see thee unclothed.” Naito finally said. Mizu giggled. “Well, you can always go back to the changing room and grab a shirt like I did?” Naito nodded but didn’t get up. “Well-” he admitted sheepishly. “This knight is too lazy to do so.” which made Mizu laugh. “Well, let’s just have our bath then.”  
  
The two settled in, scrubbing the dirt and grime (and blood) off themselves and rinsing off before hopping in for a soak in the hot springs. Mizu sighed as he relaxed in the water. “I should get a bathing area attachment to my wagon…” he moaned in content. Naito chuckled. “A bathing area would be most comforting when thou art on a path of adventure.” He frowned in thought. “Especially if Milady continues to fight in such a manner. Twill be quite messy otherwise.”  
  
Mizu slid further into the hot water. “...probably a good idea.” Ugh… how much was THAT going to cost?! His life was going to be a series of trying to earn enough money to buy stuff, wasn’t it? Especially since he swore to himself he wasn’t going to touch anymore of Sethinel’s money from now on. He would have to pay for a bathroom himself. In fact, he did have that extra room that wasn’t anything yet?  
  
So… main room of the cart used as an entryway with a dining table and couch for people to sit, a kitchen/alchemy lab, a greenhouse, a bedroom/study and  another room will be a bathroom? And… Naito could crash on the couch in the main room or take the final empty room if he wanted. Mizu informed Naito of his plan for the Cart and the knight blinked. “Milady was serious about letting this knight live with thee?”  
  
“Yeah. You’re my friend and you’re following me on my journey, I need to give you a place to stay. It’d feel rude otherwise.” Mizu told him, brushing some wet hair away from his face. Naito was quiet. Mizu looked over. “Nai?”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Mizu blinked. “Um? You’re welcome?”  
  
White Naito shook his head, a faint smile on his face. “I’m serious. Thank you. For… being my friend, for playing along with my roleplay… and… everything.”  
  
Mizu swam over to pat him on the arm. “It’s fine dude. You’re my friend.” He grinned. “And my noble knight, fearless protector!” The two laughed together. They parted ways after leaving the bath house, Mizu had to log out. He wasn’t going to be able to play as often, but he was going to make every hour count. A few days left before it was time to leave the city.  
  
His journey would soon begin.

(After he met with some potential Renters for the bottom floor of Sethinel's place and got some more paperwork done, and saw about what it cost to get a bathtub... and everything else he had to do, uuuuugh~)  
  
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End file.
